Schubert: Complete Impromptus, Moments Musicaux & Klavierstücke

Franz Peter Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828), was an Austrian composer. He wrote some six hundred romantic songs as well as many operas, symphonies, sonatas and many other works. Public appreciation of his work during his lifetime for a long time was thought to be limited, but when he died at the age of 31 over 100 of his compositions had already appeared in print. He was never able to secure adequate permanent employment and for most of his life was supported by friends or employed by his father. He died at the age of 31. Today, with his imaginative, lyrical and melodical style, he is counted among the most gifted composers of the 19th century.
Early life and education: Schubert was born in the Himmelpfortgrund, a small suburb of Vienna. His father, Franz, son of a Moravian peasant, was a parish schoolmaster; his mother, Elizabeth Vietz, had before her marriage been a cook in a Viennese family. Of their fifteen children (one illegitimate child was already born in 1783) ten died in infancy; the others were Ignaz (b. 1785), Ferdinand (b. 1794), Karl (b. 1796), Franz, and a daughter Theresia (b. 1801). The father, a man of worth and integrity, possessed some reputation as a teacher, and his school, on the Himmelpfortgrund, was well attended. He was also a fair amateur musician, and transmitted his own measure of skill to his two elder sons, Ignaz and Ferdinand.

At the age of five Schubert began to receive regular instruction from his father. At six he entered the Himmelpfortgrund school where he spent some of the happiest years of his life. About the same time his musical education began. His father taught him the rudiments of the violin, his brother Ignaz the rudiments of the pianoforte. At seven, having outstripped these simple teachers, he was placed under the charge of Michael Holzer, the Kapellmeister of the Lichtenthal Church. Holzer’s lessons seem to have consisted mainly in expressions of admiration, and the boy gained more from a friendly joiner’s apprentice, who used to take him to a neighboring pianoforte warehouse and give him the opportunity of practicing on a better instrument than the poor home could afford.

Track list:
00:00:00 Impromptus, D. 899: No. 1 in C Minor
00:09:05 Impromptus, D. 899: No. 2 in E-Flat Major
00:13:24 Impromptus, D. 899: No. 3 in G-Flat Major
00:18:44 Impromptus, D. 899: No. 4 in A-Flat Major
00:25:26 Impromptus, D. 935: No. 1 in F Minor
00:36:12 Impromptus, D. 935: No. 2 in A-Flat Major
00:42:48 Impromptus, D. 935: No. 3 in B-Flat Major
00:53:53 Impromptus, D. 935: No. 4 in F Minor
00:59:46 Moments musicaux, D. 780: No. 1 in C Major (Moderato)
01:05:22 Moments musicaux, D. 780: No. 2 in A-Flat Major (Andantino)
01:11:35 Moments musicaux, D. 780: No. 3 in F Minor (Allegretto moderato)
01:13:43 Moments musicaux, D. 780: No. 4 in C-Sharp Minor (Moderato)
01:19:10 Moments musicaux, D. 780: No. 5 in F Minor (Allegro vivace)
01:21:27 Moments musicaux, D. 780: No. 6 in A-Flat Major (Allegretto)
01:29:58 3 Klavierstücke, D. 946: No. 1 in E-Flat Minor (Allegro molto)
01:43:08 3 Klavierstücke, D. 946: No. 2 in E-Flat Major (Allegretto)
01:54:03 3 Klavierstücke, D. 946: No. 3 in C Major (Allegro)
01:59:46 Klavierstück in C Major, D. 916b (Allegro)
02:03:56 Klavierstück in C Minor, D. 916c
02:13:08 Drei Klavierstücke, D. 459: Klavierstück No. 1 in C Major (Adagio)
02:18:29 Drei Klavierstücke, D. 459: Klavierstück No. 2 in A Major. Scherzo (Allegro)
02:22:03 Drei Klavierstücke, D. 459: Klavierstück No. 3 in E Major (Allegro patetico)
02:29:15 Klavierstück in A Major, D. 604 (Andante)