Franz Schubert (1797-1828) - Winterreise, Op. 89, D. 911 (1997) Cover Front Album Composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Length 69:32 Format CD Genre Vocal; Art Song Index 468 Out of Print No Musicians Soloist Hampson; Sawallisch Credits Producer John Fraser Label EMI Track List 01 Gute Nacht Antonio Vivaldi 05:45 02 Die Wetterfahne Guiseppe Sammartini 01:40 03 Gefrorne Tränen Guiseppe Sammartini 02:15 04 Erstarrung Guiseppe Sammartini 02:56 05 Der Lindenbaum Antonio Vivaldi 04:35 06 Wasserflut Antonio Vivaldi 04:00 07 Auf dem Flusse Antonio Vivaldi 03:18 08 Rückblick Schübler Choräle 02:22 09 Irrlicht Antonio Vivaldi 02:28 10 Rast Antonio Vivaldi 03:12 11 Frühlingstraum Antonio Vivaldi 03:55 12 Einsamkeit Antonio Vivaldi 02:43 13 Die Post Antonio Vivaldi 02:27 14 Der greise Kopf Antonio Vivaldi 02:36 15 Die Krähe Unico Wilhelm, Conde de Wassenaer 02:25 16 Letzte Hoffnung Unico Wilhelm, Conde de Wassenaer 02:04 17 Im Dorfe Unico Wilhelm, Conde de Wassenaer 03:09 18 Der stürmische Morgen Segundo Cuaderno 00:48 19 Täuschung D. 61 01:14 20 Der Wegweiser D. 62 03:53 21 Das Wirtshaus Cupidon / Vénus / Choeur 04:39 22 Mut Eurydice / Diane / Cupidon / Vénus / Les Déesses 01:16 23 Die Nebensonnen Jupiter / Pluton 02:16 24 Der Leiermann Tous 03:36 Personal Purchase Date 3/16/2000 Value $16.50 Store Columbia House Condition 100% Librettist Wilhelm Muller Nationality Austrian Language German Period Romantic Details Studio Bavaria Musikstudios, Munich Catalog Number 7243 5 56445 2 7 Live No Recording Date 3/1/1997 Spars DDD Reissue No Sound Stereo Notes Thomas Hampson: Baritone Wolfgang Sawallisch: Piano Notes, text and translations Essay: Gramophone review: "The flood of performances on disc of this cycle never seems to subside. The two new ones under consideration present a stark contrast in approach from almost every angle. In spite of the fact that it is immaculately sung in smooth, warm tones, refined phrasing and naturally moulded diction, Hampson’s reading left me wholly unmoved. Indeed it is the very fact that his version is so well groomed, so untroubled, almost complacent in its vocal devices, that it fails to come to grips with the work’s inner torments. Here one finds none of the haunted, empty feeling found in the notable versions of the past on EMI by Hans Hotter and Olaf Bar, let alone the piercing, unbearably moving utterance of Fischer-Dieskau, in any of his many interpretations. "Where is the agony at the end of "Gefror’ne Tranen" at the words, "des ganzen Winters Eis", where the sense of desolation that should be felt throughout "Irrlicht"? In "Die greise Kopf", as in so many of the songs, the emotion seems applied from without, suggesting any of the cycle’s psychopathic tremors found by Susan Youens in her perceptive if controversial notes, which should have been attached to a very different performance. Again in "Die Krahe" all I hear is a comfortable facsimile of what should be the immediate expression of inner terror. This tortured traveller goes on his way in far too nonchalant a manner, that crucial song "Der Wegweiser" all too beautifully sung but quite wanting the sense of a man at the end of his tether. Sawallisch’s burgerlich, tame accompanying all too aptly fits the singer’s approach. "No, for a real challenge to the wealth of exceptional accounts already in the catalogue turn to Pregardien and Staier, who have something new and important to offer. From the very first song, we are in the presence of a sensitive, inward man in fear of his fate. Something is actually happening to this sufferer’s soul at the second "des ganzen Winters Eis"; indeed the whole final verse of the second song expresses the youth’s anguish. Just as memorable are the stab of pain in the repeated final line "Da ist meiner Liebstens Haus" at the end of "Wasserflut", the introverted misery of the ice-carving of the loved one’s name in "Auf dem Flusse" and the almost mesmeric feeling in the final verse as the torrent rages in the protagonist’s heart. This is what the singing of this cycle is about: the exposing of raw nerves. "Staier is just as revelatory. Using his fortepiano to maximum effect, he finds so many fresh perceptions in his part, as in the precise weighting at the start of "Einsamkeit" and, as important, ones that accord perfectly with those of his regular partner. Here, by contrast with the EMI version, you have the sense of performers who have lived together with the cycle and conceived a unified, thought-through vision. "Listen to the way the pair mesh together to searing effect at the end of "Irrlicht", or how they make use of the pregnant pause to increase the work’s drama as at the start of "Rast", in which Pregardien displays an unexpected range of dynamics. The ineffable sadness of "Fruhlingstraum" (the text ideally articulated, the close quite properly trance-like), the raw blast of winter in "Der sturmische Morgen", the tense weariness of "Der Wegweiser", the weary half-voice of "Das Wirtshaus" - these and so much else contribute to the impression of a truly great performance, one to be placed on a plateau with Schreier (from whom Pregardien has learnt much) and Schiff. At the moment, I am under the spell of this new version, finding it the most convincing of all, allied as it is to a finely balanced recording by West German Radio and a booklet that simply presents us with material contemporaneous with Schubert’s time and leaves interpretative nuances to the performers and their audience at home."