After listening to two American and two Soviet symphonies, it was good to return to the heartland of the Austro-German tradition. I have an odd relationship with Schubert's music. I don't know it so well, but I enjoy it when I listen properly. I have recently tried to listen to the songs more and am now wondering if Winterreeise is the greatest song-cycle ever written.
I am not ambiguous about the Great C Major symphony though. It's utterly wonderful; the first movement, drawing on Beethoven, offers a master-class on how to write a sonata form. It's a cliche to be sad at the early death of Schubert, but I have to think how he never heard this work and was dead at 31. We need to be thankful for what we do have of his music.
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