Dances were an important element in Schubert’s compositions. He favored the Ländler, triple time country dances – perfect material for Viennese middle-class tastes –and the...

Dances were an important element in Schubert’s compositions. He favored the Ländler, triple time country dances – perfect material for Viennese middle-class tastes –and the Écossaise, supposedly Scottish, cast in duple time and performed with women and men facing each other. The 30 Minuets with Trios, of which ten are lost, sport especially captivating and varied Trios, while the two Écossaises from the German Dances, D.783 are vivacious examples of Schubert’s genial mastery of the genre.

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REVIEW:

With much of Franz Schubert’s highly prolific output of piano music already in the Naxos catalog, this new release offers four of his much lesser known works. Starting out in 1813, when he was just sixteen, with the 30 Minuets, the young man demonstrated his ability to fashion highly attractive music. They were all quite short, and with ten becoming lost in the years that followed, we have the remaining twenty, each Minuet containing a trio section. All are technically undemanding, the young Hungarian-born, and multiple prize-winner, Daniel Lebhardt, taking a straightforward and unadorned approach. Three years later Schubert added 8 Landler each of around half a minute, and like the Minuets are nothing more than a pleasing melody. Then in his twenties he added the 5 Ecossaises and 2 Ecossaises that in total add two and a minutes. Very good sound recording in the UK’s Birmingham Conservatoire.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)