Heimweh is a CD of Schubert songs from young German soprano Anna Richter and pianist Gerold Huber with a bit of help from clarinettist Matthias Schorn.  It’s an interesting combination of the familiar and the less familiar with a bit of a leaning to the more lyrical, less dramatic end of the Schubert canon.  Familiar material includes Der Hirt auf dem Felsen and the three parts of Ellens Gesang but there’s material that I’m much less familiar with too like Der Zwerg and Viola.  I guess thirteen minute long songs about snowdrops just don’t get programmed that often.  There’s also the slightly odd Abschied; where the piano accompanies spoken text.

Richter’s voice is light and bright with very easy top notes but she’s also capable of becoming darker and more dramatic as she does, for instance, in Der Zwerg.  Her German diction, as one might expect from someone who has worked with Christof Prégardien, is impeccable.  Huber, of course, is a most accomplished collaborator and Schorn plays a lively clarinet.

The recording was made in the MCO Hilversum studios in May 2018 and it’s pretty much impeccable.  The booklet has complete texts and lots of information about the pieces on the disk (though no bios).

It’s a generously filled disk with eighty minutes of very easy on the ear music.  It’s a worthwhile addition to the Schubert Lieder discography.