These nicely-packaged discs combine familiar Schubert in superb performances with the unfamiliar newly-minted by Brian Newbould, who contributes a good sleeve-note. (He misquotes me about No. 6, based, I once suggested, on Beethoven's Symphony No. 1, not No. 5).
The sound is perhaps marginally cleaner than on the LPs and I hope both CDs and LPs are soon issued separately for their appeal varies widely, as indeed does the quality of the music. The best of the unfamiliar items is what is here called No. 10 which derives from sketches Schubert made on his death bed. This is fascinating, one of the great Might-Have-Beens—if only he'd lived another month or two. But inevitably we hear Schubert diluted, and it cannot hope to stand up to repeated hearings like the familiar Greats. Also I don't feel that the best movement, the slow one, quite achieves its potential in this performance. But you really shouldn't miss this work; it's memorable, and some of the other reconstituted sketches are well worth hearing too.'