Schubert lieder - your favourite books on the subject?

[vinteuil]

Alternatively - if you're quick and buy before Thursday night:

http://www.europadisc.co.uk/classica...lete_Songs.htm

... o, I think the assumption is we already have the CDs - what we are pondering is whether we also need the three vols of the Book...

Ah, the fragile boundary between want and need

[gurnemanz]

Nice to see this thread re-emerge. Having stated above that I would certainly buy Graham Johnson's notes if they came out as a book, I never in fact did so and cannot deny that the hefty price was a factor. I often go back to individual song notes which can easily be accessed on the Hyperion site.

I should certainly get the Youens book on Winterreise mentioned above and since 2012, when this thread started, we have had Ian Bostridge's excellent and entertaining study of the work.

In the meantime I have also acquired the Naxos Complete set which can be picked up very cheaply. Well worth getting in addition to Hyperion with many hits and only a few disappointments. There are different, less well-known singers in there to get to know - all native German speakers. Fortepiano is used on five of the 38 discs. No song texts but a 400 page booklet with very detailed notes, mostly by the set's accompanist and project leader, Ulrich Eisenlohr.

I can't resist mentioning J W Smeed's "German Song and its Poetry". a) a good book b) on a personal note: he was a lecturer on my German literature degree course at Durham in the late 60s who first introduced me to Lieder, aged about 19 and mainly into rock music, by bringing some recordings into lectures. Available v cheap second hand.

[Karafan]

Thanks all, for some very stimulating messages. Am afraid the "fragile boundary" between want and need has now been breached. I console myself, and the bank manager, with the thought that Johnson's volumes are a treasure trove to be dipped-into for many moons to come!