Thursday 18 November 2010

Schubert´s Der Winterreise


Ich werde euch einen Zyklus schauerlicher Lieder vorsingen. Ich bin begierig zu sehen, was ihr dazu sagt. Sie haben mich mehr angegriffen, als dies bei anderen der Fall war. Mir gefallen diese Lieder mehr als alle, und sie werden euch auch noch gefallen.
Franz Schubert

The first time I heard the entire song cycle Der Winterreise by Franz Schubert was in 1980 on the radio. The singer in music critic Paul Hume´s WETA programme was the French barytone Gérald Souzay. This was the beginning of a lasting relationship to this the greatest of all song cycles - and an introduction to the world of German lieder.

Winterreise has been recorded by a great number of excellent singers. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, perhaps the most famous lieder singer of all times, has to my knowledge made at least eleven versions on disc. But my own favourite is the German barytone Andreas Schmidt. He recorded the song cycle together with the pianist Rudolf Jansen in 1990. This recording (DG 453 987-2) is still available, as far as I understand. Strongly recommended!

Here you can listen to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Alfred Brendel perform Der Lindenbau from Winterreise.

There are many useful sites with information about Winterreise. This is a good one to start with:
http://www.gopera.com/winterreise/

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