Not one to stint on enthusiasm for lost and lonely Schubert songs, pianist Graham Johnson is especially lavish in his praise of Schubert's setting of Ludwig Hölty's Frühlingslied (Spring Song, D. 398) from May 1816. Phrases like "minor musical miracle" and "purest and most unadulterated Schubert" dot his description like flowers in a daisy chain. Yet, for all his enthusiasm, surely Johnson's excited praise is on the mark. In some inexplicable manner, Schubert's brief strophic setting of Frühlingslied is a perfect evocation of the freshness of spring at its height: the rapturously flowing triple-time vocal melody, the luminously glowing sixteenths of the piano accompaniment, and the easy and graceful interaction between the two are musical miracles of spring.

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