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Florian Boesch’s debut disc on ONYX was the highly acclaimed Schumann Heine Lieder (ONYX4041), and he again teams up with Malcolm Martineau for the journey through the bleak and wintry landscape of Schubert’s Winterreise.
Composed in 1827, work on the settings of Wilhem Muller made Schubert agitated and disturbed according to friends. Indeed the songs shocked his friends when first heard – so powerful is the emotional content of the music that it still has the ability to shock and move the listener. The journey starts with ‘Goodnight’, as our traveller walks away from us into the moonlit snowy landscape. At the end of the cycle ‘The Signpost’ he takes the path to his death.
D911 1 Gute Nacht
D911 2 Die Wetterfahne
D911 3 Gefror´ne Tränen
D911 4 Erstarrung
D911 5 Der Lindenbaum
D911 6 Wasserflut
D911 7 Auf Dem Flusse
D911 8 Rückblick
D911 9 Irrlicht
D911 10 Rast
D911 11 Frühlingstraum
D911 12 Einsamkeit
D911 13 Die Post
D911 14 Der Greise Kopf
D911 15 Die Krähe
D911 16 Letzte Hoffnung
D911 17 Im Dorfe
D911 18 Der Stürmische Morgen
D911 19 Täuschung
D911 20 Der Wegweiser
D911 21 Das Wirtshaus
D911 22 Mut!
D911 23 Die Nebensonnen
D911 24 Der Leiermann
10th November 2011
*****
“all the more powerful for being so admirably reined-in. Boesch's methodology has often been described as expressionist, though in this instance he's less overtly declamatory than you might expect...The hallucinatory quality of his interpretation is matched by a corresponding vividness in Martineau's playing...It makes for very difficult listening, but is unquestionably superb.”
January 2012
*****
“Perhaps the distinguishing feature of this version is the accompaniment of Malcolm Martineau, who contrives to bring some new insight to every single song, without ever sounding mannered...Florian Boesch, the possessor of a fine but not especially distinctive voice, takes his cue from him...and the collaboration is complete...The whole cycle moves into silence in a way that I have not heard before.”
January 2012
“Boesch's baritone, rich, most of the time quiet or very quiet, and always in tune, has, here and throughout this performance, a brooding thoughtfulness, as if he were discovering for himself and for the first time the depths of desolation....Boesch's and Martineau's is a coherent and agonising narrative, giving the listener the sense of a real, cold, protracted journey for heartbroken resolve to a desolate longing.”
March 2012
“this new version by Florian Boesch and Malcolm Martineau is inspired and quite unforgettable. It has total spontaneity, a superbly balanced, totally natural recording, with the pianist making a perfect partnership with the singer...What is remarkable in a performance of this calibre is that the sadness which permeates all these songs....is always affecting.I cannot recommend this CD too highly.”
19th February 2012
“and vivid account by the Austrian Florian Boesch. It is very much a joint achievement. Malcolm Martineau is an absolutely equal partner, a sorrowing, desolate, angry participant at every moment in the cycle...an exceptionally free, imaginative and dramatic interpretation.”
June 2012
“an impressive traversal of Schubert’s winter journey. Florian Boesch’s singing is consistently involving and interesting and the support he receives from Malcolm Martineau is first class. Boesch enters fully into every song and it’s clear that he’s delving below the surface of the music. This is a fine addition to the discography of this engrossing song cycle.”
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D911 1 Gute Nacht
