Original Arrangements Franz Schubert Music

This Schubert MP3 collection illustrates some of the breadth of his work together with it's power and originality. Schubert was roughly contemporary with Beethoven and both were students of Salieri - Mozart's supposed rival. In his early professional life he was a part time composer - working as a teacher in his father's school. In this selection we have examples such as Erlkönig (ErlKing) song from his early period contrasting with the Wanderer Fantasie which was produced around the same time as the Unfinished Symphony.

Franz Schubert - selected keyboard works:

The keyboard works include two Impromptus and the March Militaire where the steel drums are variously accompanied by harp and marimba. While in the ErlKing the steel drums and vibraphone bring sunshine into the forests of Austria but they are brought down to earth by Moog Synthesized French Horns in the bass.

Wanderer-Fantasie in C major MP3:

This is, without a doubt, one of Schubert's most monumental piano compositions. It was written in November, 1822, a year that was distinguished by the creation of works of enormous emotional tension, dramatic power and concise, bold formal construction. The work's title is derived from Schubert's own song Der Wanderer (1816), a short episode which provides the material for the second movement of the Fantasie ("The sun seems so cold to me here, the flowers seems faded, life is odd", - runs Schmidt von Lubeck's text). The Fantasie is in its own way a symphonic poem, written for the piano. For the Wanderer we found that a Hammond Organ emulation (South American preset) worked well with the steel drums in handling the varied moods of the piece and the more lyrical passages.

Why not compare these Schubert MP3 remixes with some by Brahms, Chopin, Paganini and Schumann - the impact of this approach on music of particular composers can be quite distinctive.