Any good performance of Schubert’s Winterreise (1827) is already a triumph – given its scope and demands. This was a good if not inspiring performance by the German baritone, Mathias Goerne. His voice is plain and not particularly memorable but is interesting in its lower, darker reaches where he summons some impressive power. In its upper reaches it hints occasionally at strain, but this seems to be more about its opaqueness than any technical imperfections. Unfortunately, the voice was almost swamped in the first song which set the scene for a generalised winters journey whereby the narrator and his post-romantic obsession was somewhat distantly perceived in a landscape where “Der Winter kalt und wild!” was intermittent.
One of the problems of this performance was the inability of the voice to dig into the text, which admittedly is full of masculine self-pity but one was hard pressed to hear all those wonderful German words, like Schnee in ‘Fliegt der Schnee”. This added to a generalised emotional feeling, though the latter songs did bring forth some true ‘innigkeit’. It was not a performance, however, that chilled to the bone. The death wish was there but it was not startlingly real, it felt studied..
Daniel Trifonov was deeply satisfying on the piano, accompanying the voice with a clarifying musical pulse. He articulated the melodic snatches that Schubert magically conjures to support and reflect upon the melancholic disintegration of the man once loved and now dejected. He was virtuosic in those demonic passages that portend the wild incoherence of one facing disintegration, reflecting obsessively on the journey involved. The postlude to Das Wirthaus was achingly sad.
Yet even with such brilliance, the final song – “Der Leiermann” - did not reach the heights that one might have expected – the rackety hurdy-gurdy motif lacked the overwhelming despair and blackness that the song usually brings. Its existentialism was foursquare. Again, it felt studied – not lived.
Technically both singer and pianist were outstanding. Goerne managed all the vocal demands with aplomb and if he swayed cross the stage and into the piano a little too much (ensuring projection went stage right as much as out front), he didn’t shirk any of the score’s difficulties. He displays excellent breath control, a fine legato across some very slow tempi, but across the cycle his diction was muddied. Phrases were bound together as a musical line, but the highlighting of words was very low key – making for generalised feeling. This was a strangely muffled Winterreise by a preeminent German baritone.
Schubert’s Winterreise – Sydney Symphony Orchestra - City Recital Hall, Sydney, March 26, 2025
Gar Jones
One of the problems of this performance was the inability of the voice to dig into the text, which admittedly is full of masculine self-pity but one was hard pressed to hear all those wonderful German words, like Schnee in ‘Fliegt der Schnee”. This added to a generalised emotional feeling, though the latter songs did bring forth some true ‘innigkeit’. It was not a performance, however, that chilled to the bone. The death wish was there but it was not startlingly real, it felt studied..
Daniel Trifonov was deeply satisfying on the piano, accompanying the voice with a clarifying musical pulse. He articulated the melodic snatches that Schubert magically conjures to support and reflect upon the melancholic disintegration of the man once loved and now dejected. He was virtuosic in those demonic passages that portend the wild incoherence of one facing disintegration, reflecting obsessively on the journey involved. The postlude to Das Wirthaus was achingly sad.
Yet even with such brilliance, the final song – “Der Leiermann” - did not reach the heights that one might have expected – the rackety hurdy-gurdy motif lacked the overwhelming despair and blackness that the song usually brings. Its existentialism was foursquare. Again, it felt studied – not lived.
Technically both singer and pianist were outstanding. Goerne managed all the vocal demands with aplomb and if he swayed cross the stage and into the piano a little too much (ensuring projection went stage right as much as out front), he didn’t shirk any of the score’s difficulties. He displays excellent breath control, a fine legato across some very slow tempi, but across the cycle his diction was muddied. Phrases were bound together as a musical line, but the highlighting of words was very low key – making for generalised feeling. This was a strangely muffled Winterreise by a preeminent German baritone.
Schubert’s Winterreise – Sydney Symphony Orchestra - City Recital Hall, Sydney, March 26, 2025
Gar Jones
