British soprano Carolyn Sampson waited a long time to make her solo recital debut on disc, but the result – 2015’s Fleurs – was worth the wait. It was soon followed by the equally wide-ranging A Verlaine Songbook, setting up a pattern of thoughtful, unusually eclectic programs. But for their third collaboration, Sampson and pianist Joseph Middleton have changed things up. The result, A Soprano’s Schubertiade, might tread more familiar ground, but does it with such care and such a perceptive voice that even some of the composer’s best-known songs feel freshly minted.

Perhaps it’s a matter of perspective. Sampson is a soprano who has made her career in Bach, Handel and Mozart. Schubert, for her,...