Winterreise

Schubert’s Winterreise may be the most recorded cycle in the lied catalogue, but historically informed interpretations continue to be rare. The present CD demonstrates why it pays off to have a background in baroque singing and historical keyboard performance. The confrontation of Jan van Elsacker’s restrained sense of drama and storytelling, and the colour and intimacy of Tom Beghin’s pianoforte (Haffner, ca. 1830) spawn an unusual elaborate miniature painting in which the protagonist’s wintry journey slowly transcends into a metaphysical exploration of leaving, loneliness, longing, and eventually loss. This Winterreise may be low on surface circus, but it is relentlessly intense and unbearably tragic to its core.