With the Hyperion Schubert Edition nearing the home straight, only four more volumes after this one to come (including an eagerly awaited Schwanengesang), it was inevitable that there had to be one CD devoted to early, immature pieces. This is it. Some of the reconstructions here, and other student efforts, are fare only for scholars, but there are just about enough discoveries from the teenager's workshop to justify the issue. Of the considerable number of Metastasio settings, most of them sung (not all that invitingly, it must be said, by Ann Murray) two are worth hearing - Misero pargoletto, on account of its Pamina-like G minor lamenting, and Son fra l'onde, for its dramatic conviction.
Geisternahe, the first of the composer's many vocal nocturnes, is an utterly captivating setting of a lovely poem by Matthisson, full of subtle imagery announcing a great composer of Lieder in the making. It receives a performance worthy of its quality from Langridge and Johnson. The pair do just as well by the highly imaginative Errinnerungen, another Matthisson setting, Langridge's Patzak-like timbre just right for this delightful evening song.
On a CD notable for its vocal opulence the sappy tone of Catherine Wyn-Rogers comes as balm to the ear in the Pichler setting, Die Nacht, another song foretelling things to come, and in the folk-like Ammenlied. Two even earlier pieces must be mentioned: Klaglied of 1812, where the 15-year-old composer shows a quite uncanny empathy with the emotional woe of a young girl, beginning with the Gretchen-like line 'Meine Ruh' ist dahin', and the first Holty setting, a gravedigger's chirpy song about his trade, lightly delivered by Stephen Varcoe.
The usual excellence of Johnson's piano playing and note-writing, Richard Wigmore's translations, and the recording (made over a period of nine years) enhance the value of this disc, which those collecting the whole series will undoubtedly want.'