Hewat-Craw Guo - Winterreise - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Schubert's music is as naive as the poet's expressions; the emotions contained in the poems are as deeply reflected in his own feelings, and these are so brought out in sound that no-one can sing or hear them without being touched to the heart. Thus read a Viennese critic's review of Winterreise, a true masterpiece published in the final year of the composer's life. Enthralled by the verse of Wilhelm Muller (1794-1827), Schubert slightly changed the order of the poems so as to make a story - of a wanderer, a homeless man, unrequited in love and disappointed by the whole word. A tale that has always prompted questions as to what degree it reflects the personal experiences of the two artists, the poet and the musician, coevals whose lives ended too soon. The motif of a vagrant, an outcast loner, was characteristic of 19th-century Romanticism, yet it seems to resonate with the feeling of solitude of those living today. Possessing a robust, colorful voice, the bass Jan Martinik inheres an immense sensitivity for expressing the intimacy of Schubert's songs. He has proved his calibre by having attained success at international competitions, as well as by having performed to great acclaim on major opera stages. Following his Supraphon debut, Martinik has recorded Winterreise, splendidly accompanied on the piano by David Marecek. The virtue of their joint music journey lies in modest simplicity and profound intimacy.

From the first notes, the snowy steps of InchFremd bin ich eingezogenInch (As a stranger I arrived), the new recording of Schubert's InchWinterreiseInch by the Gewandhauschor makes one sit up and take notice Choirmaster Gregor Meyer has arranged one of the most paramount lieder cycles for his InchinstrumentInch, the choir, and makes virtuosic use of the possibilities offered by the ensemble's polyphony and sonority. Meyer has split the original piano part between two accordions, played here by Heidi and Uwe Steger. Their instruments are astonishingly close to the human voice, breathing, shouting, whispering, and singing. Tobias Berndt, an accomplished lied singer, takes on the baritone solo part in this recording with the choir of one of the most renowned concert halls Album Tracks 1. No. 1. Gute Nacht [05 33] 2. No. 2. Die Wetterfahne [01 57] 3. No 3. Gefror'ne Tränen [02 22] 4. No. 4. Erstarrung [02 44] 5. No. 5. Der Lindenbaum [05 06] 6. No. 6. Wasserflut [04 10] 7. No. 7. Auf Dem Flusse [03 35] 8. No. 8. Rückblick [01 57] 9. No. 9. Irrlicht [03 15] 10. No. 10. Rast [04 09] 11. No. 11. Frühlingstraum [03 34] 12. No. 12. Einsamkeit [02 46] 13. No. 13. Die Post [02 25] 14. No. 14. Der Greise Kopf [03 20] 15. No. 15. Die Krähe [01 41] 16. No. 16. Letzte Hoffnung [02 22] 17. No. 17. Im Dorfe [03 10] 18. No. 18. Der Stürmische Morgen [00 56] 19. No. 19. Täuschung [01 25] 20. No. 20. Der Wegweiser [04 00] 21. No. 21. Das Wirtshaus [03 24] 22. No. 22. Mut [01 24] 23. No. 23. Die Nebensonnen [02 38] 24. No. 24. Der Leiermann [04 18

Schubert's Winterreise was present for both of us very early in our lives. Daniel keeps telling me how he sat at the piano with his grandfather and played Der LeiermannInch. We were fascinated by this work, which seemed to know so much about what we felt and whose story was somehow our story. The negation of the physical in song singing and the wish of the guards of the genre to use only the voice for expression were always suspicious to me and I wanted to find out what expressive possibilities Schubert's songs reveal once you dare to give up the that has been in use since the 1950s. It was clear to us that we would not only find approval, but we were willing to take this risk. [...] And in the end we arrived back at the beginning - with the music of Schubert and the poems of Wilhelm Müller. For despite all our search for a new , we always wanted to be faithful to the text. And that's why we rehearsed for many hours during this time, listened to our concert recordings, argued and struggled for every note, every bar and every word. We discovered how wild, expressive, desperate but also hopeful, melancholic and quiet Schubert's winter journey is. And over the years an interpretation matured which we have now recorded on this album with sound engineer Franz Schaden near Vienna. It is not our last word on the winter journey, only a snapshot.Inch (Johannes Held) Album Tracks 1. Winterreise Op. 89, D 911 2. - Erste Abteilung / First Part 3. Gute Nacht 4. Die Wetterfahne 5. Gefrorene Tränen 6. Erstarrung 7. Der Lindenbaum 8. Wasserflut 9. Auf Dem Flusse 10. Rückblick 11. Irrlicht 12. Rast 13. Frühlingstraum 14. Einsamkeit 15. - Zweite Abteilung / Second Part 16. Die Post 17. Der Greise Kopf 18. Die Krähe 19. Letzte Hoffnung 20. Im Dorfe 21. Der Stürmische Morgen 22. Täuschung 23. Der Wegweiser 24. Das Wirtshaus 25. Mut