Matthias Goerne’s Schubert survey has established him as one of the most gifted exponents of the song repertoire. Goerne does not merely ‘interpret’ Schubert: he ‘lives’ each song and invites the listener to share this poetry and musical intimacy. Each of the nine albums in this set was designed as an individual programme, a poetic voyage through the vast corpus of Schubert’s lieder. Matthias Goerne made his personal selection from the songs, in which the three great cycles sit alongside many masterpieces like ‘Des Fischers Liebesglück’, an interpretation which in itself would be enough to justify this magnificent undertaking.

‘simply unmissable... and for two prime reasons - the grave beauty of its programme and the corresponding beauty of the singer’s voice.’ - Gramophone, February 2010

‘Goerne used to record for Decca, but it apparently had no interest in his 12-volume Schubert compendium, so the less ruthlessly commercial Harmonia Mundi comes to the rescue, for which the France-based company deserves the highest praise. From a vocal point of view, few male singers, even Fischer-Dieskau, command such a rich palette of colours as Goerne does here... he goes where Dieskau never ventured: he includes two of Mignon’s songs, Heiss’ mich nicht reden and Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, as well as the Harper trilogy... Goerne approaches the sublime and captures perfectly the wry wit of Goethe’s sly dig at water-nymphery, Der Fischer, in which the surprise encounter of an angler with a “moist woman” is wryly underlined by Schubert. Luxury support from Deutsch and Schneider sets the seal on an outstanding issue.’ - Sunday Times Classical CD of the Week

‘This promises to be a landmark series, up there with Hans Hotter and Fischer-Dieskau.’ - The Observer