Undoubtedly, the most important part of Franz Schubert’s oeuvre are the songs. He wrote more than 600 of them, which is why the composer is deservedly called the “King of Songs”. Schubert definitively formed the genre of the German Lied. They reveal the humble inner world of the common man, with themes of unhappy love, loneliness and wandering. Nature is the only friend of the lonely hero to whom he can open his heart – Erlkönig (Alder King), the stream, the forest are personalised, inculcated with human feelings. The composer’s extraordinary talent for creating melodies cannot be overlooked. Some were simple like folk songs, others romantic, melancholic, still others declamatory and dramatic.

Although Schuber’s Lieder are written for soloist and piano, this time the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society presents arrangements of Schubert songs for baritone and orchestra by other famous composers – Johannes Brahms, Anton Weber, Max Reger and others, performed by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra led by Modestas Pitrėnas and featuring the German baritone Benjamin Appl. An impressive performer of art song, he has studied with the legendary baritone and authority on the Lied genre, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Critics and audiences alike are particularly appreciative of the baritone’s wide range of timbres, mastery and poignant interpretations of the songs.

An die Musik (To Music), Op. 88 No. 4, D.547 (arranged. by Max Reger)

Geheimes (Secret), Op. 14 No. 2, D.719 (arranged by Johannes Brahms)

Memnon, Op. 6 No. 1, D.541 (arranged by Johannes Brahms)

Prometheus, D.674 (arranged by Max Reger)

An Sylvia (To Silvia), Op. 106 No. 4, D.891 (arranged by Alexander Schmalz)

Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen (Litany for the Feast of All Souls), D.343 (arranged by Max Reger)

Du bist die Ruh (You are Rest and Peace), Op. 59 No. 3, D.776 (arranged by Anton Webern)

Der Tod und das Mädchen (Death and the Maiden), Op. 7 No. 3, D.531 (arranged by Felix Mottl)

Erlkönig (Alder King), Op. 1, D.328 (arranged by Franz Liszt)

Die Forelle (The Trout), Op. 32, D.550 (arranged by Benjamin Britten)