The Limelight Recording of the Month for July features Samuel Hasselhorn’s latest album of Schubert Lieder. It’s part of his ambitious Schubert 200 series, a multi-year project with Israeli-South African pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz. Launched in 2023, they aim to release one album every year, culminating in 2028, to mark the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death.

Titled Hoffnung – the German for hope – this third volume celebrates 1826, a year of renewal, which brought with it a torrent of newfound artistic energy.

Clive Paget talked to the German baritone about learning to love Schubert and why the composer speaks to a 21st-century audience.

When did you first come across Schubert and how has your relationship with his music developed over the years?

I just talked about this yesterday with Waltraud Meier – we have a project where she reads and I sing. It took a while until I got warm with Schubert somehow. I knew of him, of course and I sang one or two of his Lieder when I was maybe 16, 17 at a little Liederbend I arranged in the rehearsal room of the school orchestra. But what I was most after was Schumann. Schumann spoke to me....