Hyperion Schubert Bonus

[gurnemanz]

I've had (and relished) the Hyperion Complete Schubert box since it came out, but have been slow to realise that in the case of the first invidual CDs, a few songs were recorded twice, only one of which was included in the complete box. I had not bought that many of the original issues and did not already have any "duplicates", so in a rather anorakish, completist sort of way, I decided to identify the ones I was lacking. I then went to the Hyperion site and downloaded them as FLAC. This was my first experiment in doing such a thing and it worked brilliantly well with the download including text + translation and Graham Johnson's excellent notes. I burnt the 16 tracks to CD to give a me a new bonus disc, which cost me a mere £6.70. The sound quality is very good and all the tracks are worth having with some I would definitely not wish to have done without: especially the Schäfer, Fassbaender, Mathis, Lott, Baker and Rolfe-Johnson tracks.

In case anyone is interested, here is my track list:

Am Flusse, An die Entfernte - Maarten Koningsberger
Thekla 'Eine Geisterstimme, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, Nachtstück - Brigitte Fassbaender
Das Mädchen, Blanka, Die Rose - Christine Schäfer
Blondel zu Marien - Marjana Lipovšek
Der liebliche Stern - Felicity Lott
Der Pilgrim - Janet Baker
Die Sterne - Anthony Rolfe Johnson
Ganymed - Elizabeth Connell
Himmelsfunken - Christine Brewer
Lob der Tränen - Edith Mathis
Selige Welt - Stephen Varcoe

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks for this, gurnie: I had no idea that the "complete" box didn't contain the "complete" contents of the individual CDs. Surely a company as good as Hyperion should've included the "bonus" CD themselves?

[Karafan]

Thanks for this, gurnie: I had no idea that the "complete" box didn't contain the "complete" contents of the individual CDs. Surely a company as good as Hyperion should've included the "bonus" CD themselves?

Useful, that. Didn't the box also include the Schubert and friends bonus, which the single buyers had to get separately. And what about the vexed question of the liner note essays for those who bought the big box (I didn't, I was a 'separates' man)? I don't think it did ever see the light of day as a book did it? I felt the same about the Schumann songs - having bought the complete box, I felt rather shortchanged at the loss of Johnson's most illuminating accompanying essays.

K.

[gurnemanz]

Useful, that. Didn't the box also include the Schubert and friends bonus, which the single buyers had to get separately. And what about the vexed question of the liner note essays for those who bought the big box (I didn't, I was a 'separates' man)? I don't think it did ever see the light of day as a book did it? I felt the same about the Schumann songs - having bought the complete box, I felt rather shortchanged at the loss of Johnson's most illuminating accompanying essays.

K.

There were three extra "Friends" discs. Mark Padmore does a couple of songs by Franz Lachner which he liked enough to include in a recital including Dichterliebe which we attended at the Holywell in Oxford a couple of years ago.

I actually emailed Hyperion about the lack of Johnson's notes in the complete box, asking if there were any plans to publish them. I received a reply (from Simon Perry himself) pointing me to the pdf files on the site ... which I was in fact already aware of.

At least the Schumann box does include some notes in the form of a chronology.

[pastoralguy]

I bought this set in an HMV sale after having worked all of Christmas and New Year. I'm ashamed to say it's still in its plastic wrapping!

On day...

[Spatny]

I managed to buy a 'as new' box set for £55 on eBay ... one of my best buys. Just about to download this bonus disc.

[Parry1912]

I'm ashamed to say it's still in its plastic wrapping!

No need for shame PG, you're among friends. I'm sure many of us still have unwrapped box sets on our shelves.