Exhibit A that Schubert may be Mozart's equal as the greatest of them all: Fierrabras. Here's Abbado doing Fierrabras. One of the finest achievements of his long career. Welser-Möst did an exceptional job with it in Zurich, but he can't possibly match what Abbado did here.
We think of Schubert's operas as lesser Schubert. Bullshit. He just didn't get enough funding to do it often. Fierrabras is a missing link between The Magic Flute and Der Freischütz. It has moments that could easily be Mozart, and others that could easily be Wagner. The music is exciting and beautiful, the plot isn't particularly stupid, this should be one of the most performed works in the entire repertoire, and it barely got performed at all until Claudio Abbado mounted it in 1980s Vienna. It's still barely performed anywhere else.
To any conductor, singer, and administrator reading this: MOUNT THIS OPERA! DROP EVERYTHING ELSE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMwUFJfN1hs
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