Die Singphoniker - Schubert: Complete Part Songs for Male Voices, Vol. 1 (1996)

Of all Schubert's songs, the part songs for male voices are probably the hardest for contemporary audiences to take seriously. The sweetness of the harmonies recalls the saccharine harmonies of barbershop quartets, the emotions of the lyrics recall the sentimentality of greeting cards, and the sheer ubiquity of drinking songs recalls the inebriated bowling banquets of the Beneficent Order of Elks. But while Schubert's part songs for male voices are in many ways the precursors of all these smarmy things, they are themselves quite lovely. As this collection by Austria's Singphoniker demonstrates, Schubert wrote magnificent works for male voices: the mysterious Der Gondelfahrer D. 809, the nostalgic Das Dörfchen (D. 598), the gentle La Pastorella, the tender Mondenschein (D. 875), and the radiant Nachthelle, along with the inevitable drinking songs the Punschlied (D. 277) and this collection's five Trinklied (D. 75, D. 148, D. 267, and D. 356). If the harmonies are sweet, in the Singphoniker's performances they are warmhearted. If the poems are sentimental, Schubert's melodies as sung by the Singphoniker are full of emotions. And if the drinking songs are still drinking songs, well, boys will be boys. This is as beautiful a collection of Schubert's part songs as is imaginable.