‘Goerne’s way with phrasing is quite admirable. He does not carve, he sculpts. One listens to Schubert’s phrases as one would stroke polished marble. Never an intonation for the sake of effect, never a superfluous accent’ (Sylvain Fort, Diapason). After the first volume of the Matthias Goerne Schubert Edition, this double album speaks of death, of the ‘Wanderer’, and of the relationship between Schubert and his poets . . . For this occasion the singer has called on two travelling companions who have left a lasting artistic impression on the world of the lied.

Igor Stravinsky is not a composer who is usually associated with symphonic form. Five of his compositions bear that name, however, even though they have little in common. The first major work Stravinsky composed entirely in the United States, the Symphony in Three Movements seems to pick up where the Rite of Spring left off with its rhythmic ostinatos and shock effects. It can be interpreted as the composer’s response to the Second World War, which was ravaging Europe at the time of its composition, and its striking and triumphant conclusion appears to echo of what the composer must have felt. The Symphonies of Wind Instruments, a short, compact work, was a tribute to Stravinsky’s friend and colleague Claude Debussy.