Schubert: Chamber Works (2015)

This is a somewhat misshapen collection of Schubert chamber music; not all of it features the named and pictured performer, violinist Tasmin Little, and the famous trios are not represented. Most of it falls into the rarely performed category, but it's well worth the time of Schubert lovers for several reasons. The most prominent is the sympathetic duo work of Little and accompanist Piers Lane, on display most elegantly in a slightly languorous, beautifully controlled performance of the formally free Fantasy for violin and ... Read More

This is a somewhat misshapen collection of Schubert chamber music; not all of it features the named and pictured performer, violinist Tasmin Little, and the famous trios are not represented. Most of it falls into the rarely performed category, but it's well worth the time of Schubert lovers for several reasons. The most prominent is the sympathetic duo work of Little and accompanist Piers Lane, on display most elegantly in a slightly languorous, beautifully controlled performance of the formally free Fantasy for violin and piano in C major, D. 934. The rarities include the Rondeau brillant for violin and piano, D. 895, one of the few instrumental works Schubert wrote in a virtuoso mode and a fascinating fusion of that sound with his own deliberate and discursive musical language. Also welcome is the Adagio for piano trio, D. 897, very much in the vein of the two great piano trios. Little is straightforward in the three early violin sonatas, D. 384, D. 385, and D. 408; perhaps they need a bit more... Read Less