Winterreise - your favourite recording

[Barbirollians]

Following on from Ian Bostridge's fascinating Radio 4 series last week on Book of the Week ( which would no doubt be regarded as far too highbrow for Radio 3 ) and Warner's speedy re-release of his Schubert recordings with Andsnes, Pappano and Uchida I wondered what was forumites favourite performances .

For me barking is out so no DFD for me I am afraid .

My favourites are Kaufmann's recent account , Fassbender's account with Reimann and also Hans Hotter and Gerald Moore with the BBC MM disc by Hank Neven recommended on here by Chris Newman very close up .

[Nick Armstrong]

The Christine Schäfer performance got an outing at home yesterday and remains a - or even, the - favourite for me.

I might not have used the language of one of the Amazon reviewers, but I certainly wouldn't disagree with it:

"It's ice cold and scorching hot. It's so isolated and desolate, clean and pure. The piano playing (by Eric Schneider - who appears on Goerne's definitive Schubert Die Schoene Muellerin) is extraordinary, outstanding. The singing, I don't know, there's something magical to her voice, wondrous. It's like time itself singing, the voice of infinity. Stark, harrowing. I felt as if my heart stopped. This is really a stunning stunning performance in terms of singer, pianist, recording, and presentation. I love this disc."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-Winterreise-Christine-Schafer/dp/B000FI9058

[Richard Tarleton]

For me barking is out so no DFD for me I am afraid .

I have 3 DFD versions - on LP with Gerald Moore (early 70s[?] on DG) , Jörg Demus (1966), and on DVD with Alfred Brendel, Berlin 1979, which I watched again just the other day. I got to know the work through DFD, and tho' I've heard numerous other versions (inc. Hotter and Fassbender) I don't feel the need to own any more - much as I admire the voices of Kaufmann, Quasthoff, Goerne etc. DFD just reaches depths of insight and beauty I don't hear elsewhere. I prefer baritone for Winterreise (and tenor for DieSM, somehow it seems to go better with the personality of the narrator, don't ask me why - I did once hear Peter Schreier sing it, perhaps that did it for me). I may well buy IB's new book on Winterreise which sounds fascinating, I'm happy to read him or hear him talk but not singing.

I'd be interested to hear the Christine Schäfer version though, after that write-up.

[ostuni]

I heard extracts from the Schäfer on the radio a while back, and must definitely seek out the whole cycle. One of my favourites is Fassbaender - how would you say they compare?

I think my own favourite tenor version is C Prégardien with Andreas Steier revelling in the different colours that a fortepiano can bring. Top of my overall list is Florian Boesch with Malcolm Martineau. Martineau's accompaniments are really characterful & imaginative; Boesch is fascinating. Often very soft: definitely a performance as heard in a living room among Schubert's friends, rather than as projected from the stage of the Wigmore.

[Pianorak]

I prefer baritone for Winterreise

Olaf Bär and Geoffrey Parsons for me. Love Fassbaender's voice, but not for Winterreise or Schumann's Dichterliebe.

[hedgehog]

I think my own favourite tenor version is C Prégardien with Andreas Steier revelling in the different colours that a fortepiano can bring. Top of my overall list is Florian Boesch with Malcolm Martineau. Martineau's accompaniments are really characterful & imaginative; Boesch is fascinating. Often very soft: definitely a performance as heard in a living room among Schubert's friends, rather than as projected from the stage of the Wigmore.

100% in agreement with this!

[Stanfordian]

Following on from Ian Bostridge's fascinating Radio 4 series last week on Book of the Week ( which would no doubt be regarded as far too highbrow for Radio 3 ) and Warner's speedy re-release of his Schubert recordings with Andsnes, Pappano and Uchida I wondered what was forumites favourite performances .

For me barking is out so no DFD for me I am afraid .

My favourites are Kaufmann's recent account , Fassbender's account with Reimann and also Hans Hotter and Gerald Moore with the BBC MM disc by Hank Neven recommended on here by Chris Newman very close up .

Hiya Barbirollians,

In Winterreise I admire Christian Gerhaher/Gerold Huber; Brigitte Fassbaender/Aribert Reimann and also Siegried Lorenz/Norman Shetler. The account on the BBC MM disc by Henk Neven and Hans Eijsackers is well worth seeking out.

[Barbirollians]

Christian Gerhaher sounds promising . I have been an admirer of his singing since his lovely performance in the uneven ROH Tannhauser a couple of years back when his performance of the song to the evening star was particularly beautiful .

[silvestrione]

I grew up with Gerard Souzay which you can hear on Youtube. In my 20s I went to DFD and Daniel Barenboim at the Royal Festival Hall, one of the best experiences of many I've had in that hall. A few years later they recorded it.

I don't know much about singing, but I do about piano playing, so these days if I'm going to put it on I'd listen to the Brendel/DFD version (the Richter/ Schreier is spoilt for me by too slow speeds and an overbearingly emotional/dramatic performance from Schreier).

[aeolium]

I prefer a tenor in this work, and would not be without the Pears/Britten recording, with superb accompaniment from Britten as usual. Another period instrument alternative to Pregardien/Staier is the recording by Ian Partridge and Richard Burnett. Partridge is another singer I greatly admire, though I'm not sure I wouldn't have preferred his sister as the accompanist as they are so good in the Schumann lieder cycles and in their disc of Schubert songs.

[Nick Armstrong]

I prefer a tenor in this work, and would not be without the Pears/Britten recording, with superb accompaniment from Britten as usual.

Yes - a long-time favourite too.

[DracoM]

Kaufmann for me. Musically fine, and with interpretative skills of some order. Less about him, more about the music.

[antongould]

Did Harry Plunket Greene record the whole cycle in English - or has anyone else? This is what I suppose is known as sacrilege ..........

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Did Harry Plunket Greene record the whole cycle in English - or has anyone else? This is what I suppose is known as sacrilege ..........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTi2pQiUphI

According to WIKI () Plunket Greene only recorded The Hurdy-Gurdy Man - that remarkable sound!

[antongould]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTi2pQiUphI

According to WIKI () Plunket Greene only recorded The Hurdy-Gurdy Man - that remarkable sound!

That's it then two sources I always believe Ferney and Wiki.....