SCHUBERT:LIEDER:CHRISTOPH PREGARDIEN(T)/MICHAEL GEES(p)

Good from start to finish -- indeed, so good that once you start, you won't be able to stop until you finish -- Christoph Pregardien's 1996 Schubert recital entitled Lieder von Abschied und Reise (Songs of farewell and journey) is compulsive listening. For one thing, there's the programming. Starting with the hail and hearty Willkomen und Abschied and including the four standard-issue philosophical Wanderers was inevitable. But going from the sprightly Der Geistertanz to the terrifying Erlkonig or from the harrowing Der Doppelganger to the consoling Nacht und Traume was flat-out brilliant programming. More important than the programming, however, are the performances, and Pregardien's performances are more than brilliant -- they are inspired. His tone is heroic but also lyric and intimate. His technique is effortless and entirely unnoticeable even when at its most impressive. But best of all are Pregardien's interpretations. He has the ethereal spirituality of Das Zugenglocklein, the impetuous confidence of Der Schiffer, the endless loneliness of Der Einsame, and the ineffable longing of Sehnsucht in his voice -- and his soul. With the sensitive and skillful accompaniment of pianist Michael Gees captured in Virgin's clear and warm sound, Pregardien's recital surely belongs among the best Schubert discs of the digital era's second decade.