The first volume in a major new recording series across which a host of world-renowned singers draw listeners, decade by decade, through a century of song, from 1810 to 1910. Each volume features a perfectly planned, varied programme performed by household names, whilst the series overall creates a comprehensive survey of song right through the nineteenth century – an invaluable teaching asset, as well as a joy for listeners.

The opening volume, 1810-1820, includes songs from Austria, Bohemia, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, by Franz Schubert, Fernando Sor, Ludwig van Beethoven, Joseph Fabry-Garat, Sophie Gail, Václav Tomášek, Giovanni Battista Viotti, and Carl Maria von Weber.

Singers in this first volume include the distinguished Canadian tenor Michael Schade, sopranos Lorna Anderson and Sylvia Schwartz, mezzo Dame Ann Murray and bass Florian Boesch, accompanied by the series’ creator, pianist Malcolm Martineau.

Singers for volumes 2 & 3 (released at 4-monthly intervals) include Sarah Connolly, John Mark Ainsley, Christina Gansch, Anush Hovhannisyan, Christopher Maltman and Angelika Kirchschlager, with further stars of today – and of the future – appearing in future volumes.

Extensive presentation includes 72-page booklet with authoritative liner note in three languages by renowned song expert and series consultant Prof Susan Youens, with full texts and translations, together with session photographs.

“Schade is always an involved, communicative singer, eagerly responsive to mood and verbal detail, and excelling in tenderness and intimacy…the diamond-bright Spanish-English soprano Sylvia Schwartz also makes her mark, finely sustaining the high tessitura of the rapt ‘Wiegenlied’…Malcolm Martineau’s luminous touch and rhythmic point are priceless assets throughout” Gramophone

“The start of a remarkable project, allowing the listener to roam a century of European song, intelligently curated and artfully performed” Classical Music