Search - Franz Schubert, Imogen Cooper, Wolfgang Holzmair :: Schubert: Winterreise

A different, and absorbing, Winterreise

Bella | UK | 06/20/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A few years ago I acquired the Holzmair/Cooper Schubert song-cycles on spec., and settled down to compare Winterreise with versions by Fischer-Dieskau (1961, accompanied by Gerald Moore) and Hans Hotter. According to the pundits F-D would be out in front, with Hotter a comfortable second; I assumed that my new, and unknown, acquisition would trail in far behind.



It didn't work out like that at all. Each of the three seemed to be doing something quite different, and as far as I was concerned Holzmair's deceptively light touch was just as successful as his eminent predecessors' stronger, and more portentous treatment; whereas F-D leaves no stone unturned, Holzmair's half-frozen traveller comes across as distancing himself from the past.



Around the same time I heard a radio interview in which Holzmair was asked about his song recitals, and the reply was that he tries to communicate the poetry as a whole, rather than concentrating on emotion. His Winterreise has a disturbing tension interpersed by shafts of bitterness, which snaps intermittently to reveal inner turbulence. The subtle probing hints at meanings rather then spelling out details, and the baritone is a true master at shifting from dark to light - and back again - even within a phrase. The cycle also displays exceptional narrative skills, with Holzmair's sense of timing and deft use of dynamics keeping the pages turning, metaphorically speaking. The effect is wholly involving."

A Jewel

Debra Mervant | 03/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I went looking for this version of Winterreise on Amazon's U.S. site after listening to a comparative study of different versions on France Musiques (extremely competent moderation).

In first place for almost all the show's "jury" were the Hotter and Fischer-Diskau versions (of which there are many, and I am not competent or interested enough to sift through all of them...).

I was intrigued by the fact that the commentators were really NOT listening to Holzmair, or at any rate, definitely NOT hearing what I was hearing in this version.

What was I hearing ?

An incredible psychological finesse in understanding the narrator's frame of mind in this cycle, his capacity to move in a flick of the eye from wistful joy to dark despair (Frühlingstraum).

Holzmair is consummately skilled in depicting the numbness that trauma imparts to those who are faced with it. His interpretation, far from being inexpressive, is perfectly in tone for this cycle.

And his singing is so subtle that he works like a painter, with tiny brush strokes to impart the complicated psychological state of the narrator.

He has obviously spent MUCH time on analyzing the cycle, and looking for the best way to adequate text and music.

A decidedly original interpretation. And I like it better than Hotter and Fischer-Diskau, or I wouldn't recommend it this way here.

It is definitely NOT as well known as the more famous and publicized versions, and definitely SHOULD be.

A final word for Imogen Cooper, who is perfect in what is obviously a partnership, as the piano in Schubert song cycles is NEVER an accompaniment."