Elena Xanthoudakis, Jason Xanthoudakis, Clemens Leske - The Captive Nightingale: Schubert in context of neglected works

Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock) treats soprano, clarinet and piano so magically you might have expected it to spawn a new genre.

But only Spohr's German Songs, Op 103, for the same combination, has survived in the margins of the repertoire.

Imitations, however, were not in short supply, as this disc demonstrates, placing the Schubert in the context of neglected works by Späth, Kreutzer, Proch, Kalliwoda, Franz Lachner, Sobeck and Lindpaintner.

The title is apt, as the focus is on the kind of beautiful sounds cherished in 19th-century salons. Greek-Australian soprano Elena Xanthoudakis's performances are as clear as a mountain spring. signumrecords. com