To mark the bicentenary of the birth of Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Hyperion Records is recording all of the composer's songs, including alternative settings, fragments and piano-accompanied partsongs and ensembles.

The Hyperion Schubert Edition was started in 1987 with a CD of Goethe and Schiller settings sung by Dame Janet Baker. It won a Gramophone Award as the best song record of that year. Since then the series has grown to 27 discs featuring a host of the world's greatest singers, and it is estimated that when completed in 1998 it will fill 36 discs. This CD contains a selection from the recordings issued to date.

The programmes are planned by pianist Graham Johnson, the accompanist throughout the series and the writer of the now-celebrated accompanying notes, famous for their scholarship and insight into Schubert's music and social world.