As a young composer immersed in the new bourgeois scene in Vienna, Schubert was perfectly positioned to write for the many salons that had opened in the city. The fashionable dances he wrote for them also gave him an avenue for their publication and the selling of scores. These charming gems were not intended for the concert stage but offer a surprising and seemingly spontaneous outpouring of melody and harmonic wit – and even imitations of Tyrolean yodelling. The 12 Écossaises, D299, are known to be the first work Schubert composed away from Vienna. Didier Castell-Jacomin employs the 1982 Henle edition based on manuscripts and first editions.

Steinway Artist Didier Castell-Jacomin has been described as ‘a sparkling pianist’ by well-known commentator Norman Lebrecht; Paul Badura-Skoda, after they had played together, said he was ‘a true Mozartian’. On Naxos 8574012 he joins the Vienna Chamber Symphony Quintet for ‘delightful transcriptions of works by Mozart’ (ResMusica.com).

Schubert’s Rarities and Short Piano Works can be heard on 8574135 played by the Polish pianist Wojciech Waleczek: ‘Fascinating, rarely heard Schubert, played with impeccable taste and fluency by a superb pianist’ (MusicWeb International).