Winterreise - your favourite recording

[vinteuil]

Typo for Norman Shetler, no doubt.

... ca'n't resist the old anecdote.

Many years ago an MEP from Normandy made a comment about some supposedly intractable dilemma - 'Ce problème sera résolu grâce à la sagesse normande'. Rendered by the translator as 'This problem will be solved with the help of norman wisdom'.

[Tapiola]

Does anyone know the version by Hans Duhan, from 1928, the first complete cycle recorded? To my knowledge this was never re-released after the 78 era. I came across a FLAC transfer online yesterday and have very much enjoyed listening to this historic document. Duhan, a baritone with the Vienna State Opera, sings quite beautifully in the 'bel canto' style of the time, with great security and a good deal of drama. It is a fascinating complement to the more mellifluous Husch recording of 1933.

Duhan has two accompanists: Ferdinand Foll predominantly, who plays with much sensitivity, despite the rather recessed piano sound. Songs 16, 17, 19, 20, 21 and 23 are accompanied by a more earthbound Lene Orthmann.

A real treat for Winterreise fans.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Tapiola: you may well know this but three sides of Duhan and Foll were reissued in the 1982 EMI 'Schubert Lieder on Record' box-set RLS 766: Aufenthalt and Ihr Bild from Schwanengesang and Pause from Schone Mullerin, all from 1928. They may be in the near-equivalent CD set but they did alter that a bit and I haven't checked.

In Song on Record Vol 1 - Lieder ed. Alan Blyth, Hilary Finch likes his Winterreise: "Hans Duhan...digs his rich, polished baritone deep into the ice and snow in a heroic, massively outlined reading." Robin Holloway is equally keen on his Aufenthalt but Blyth himself is far less enthusiastic about his complete Mullerin.

[Tapiola]

LMP, I remember at some point seeing reference to Duhan in the EMI box to which you refer, but thanks for the extra information you provide. On the evidence of what I have heard of Duhan, I do find the obscurity of his Winterreise totally mystifying.

[Tapiola]

Operadepot is currently offering free downloads of two performances of Winterreise sung by Hans Hotter, from 1947 and 1976. The free offer expires at the end of this week.

[gurnemanz]

Thanks, Tapiola, for starting me off on a small trail of discovery. I only really knew Hans Duhan from 3 tracks on those EMI LPs (now also on CD). I found the blog site and have duly downloaded the mp3. The blogger has done a very thorough job dividing into tracks and de-clicking (I like the German word "entknackt") but still plenty of hiss, which you get used to. A most enjoyable listen, a bit reminiscent of Gerhard Hüsch, rather operatic at times with an occasional penchant for expressive changes of tempo, but also a lot of subtle and meticulous attention to phrasing and word pointing. He was Austrian but unlike Julius Patzak, whose recording I have also recently discovered (mentioned above), he doesn't employ the local Viennese accent in his interpretation.
I hadn't realised quite how prolific Duhan was (also opera director and conductor). Indeed, reading around a bit, apparently, he actually overdid it and ruined his voice, having to take a year off.
There's quite a lot on YouTube. I listened to Am Meer which contains a rather outrageous emotional gulp at around 2.50 on the word "Träne" (tear), which he wouldn't get away with nowadays.

Interesting that the blogger is also enthused by Alice Coote. We saw her do it live at the Wigmore a few years ago and were absolutely riveted, sitting quite close to her.

[Tapiola]

The blogger has done a very thorough job dividing into tracks and de-clicking (I like the German word "entknackt") but still plenty of hiss, which you get used to.

I agree, a real labour of love, and the voice comes through very clearly. My partner (not a great sharer of my musical tastes(!)) surprised me on Sunday when she remarked how much she liked the quality of Duhan's voice, and the music itself, of which she had no previous knowledge.

He was Austrian but unlike Julius Patzak, whose recording I have also recently discovered (mentioned above), he doesn't employ the local Viennese accent in his interpretation.

Fascinating!

I should perhaps have linked to the blog itself in my original post, but thank you for so doing.

[verismissimo]

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

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

Ferney, I think he was one of the first classically trained singers to use the intimacy potential of the new-fangled microphone. He virtually whispers into the thing, in a way that he could not possibly have done successfully either in the concert hall, or for that matter into a recording horn. It's a turning point, but one rarely exploited in the future by others of a classical persuasion. Constantly employed by pop/rock/jazz singers however.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ferney, I think he was one of the first classically trained singers to use the intimacy potential of the new-fangled microphone. He virtually whispers into the thing, in a way that he could not possibly have done successfully either in the concert hall, or for that matter into a recording horn. It's a turning point, but one rarely exploited in the future by others of a classical persuasion. Constantly employed by pop/rock/jazz singers however.

[Beef Oven!]

Operadepot is currently offering free downloads of two performances of Winterreise sung by Hans Hotter, from 1947 and 1976. The free offer expires at the end of this week.

Thanks very much for this, Tapiola.

[ostuni]

One of my favourite modern recordings of Winterreise (on some days I would say it was my absolute favourite) is Florian Boesch & Malcolm Martineau. I've never heard what he does live, but certainly on this recording he [I]does[I] exploit the microphone far more than is usual in this genre. And Martineau is a fabulously vivid accompanist.

(edited to add) Ah, I see I made a very similar point just over a year ago in message #4

[Bryn]

Of late, on CDs:

Which, I accept, might drive the odd purist to distraction.

[Tapiola]

Thanks very much for this, Tapiola.

I hope you can get them to play, Beef Oven! I downloaded them earlier today and am having problems with playback. Previous downloads from this site have worked well. I could not see a bit rate attached but they may be mp3 256 kps (as other releases from Operadepot have been).

[Beef Oven!]

I hope you can get them to play, Beef Oven! I downloaded them earlier today and am having problems with playback. Previous downloads from this site have worked well. I could not see a bit rate attached but they may be mp3 256 kps (as other releases from Operadepot have been).

I downloaded them earlier this afternoon and played the first two songs, Der Lindenbaum and the Walkure excerpt - all perfect, here!

[Roslynmuse]

Of late, on CDs:

Which, I accept, might drive the odd purist to distraction.

I think this is wonderful - I have it on a Kairos CD with Christoph Prégardien. I also have Pears and Britten; Matthias Goerne and Graham Johnson; plus a couple of others.

Reading the praise for Alice Coote's recording reminds me that when I was a student Brigitte Fassbaender gave a performance of it in Manchester - the purists on that occasion were shaking their heads in disapproval (although I think she won over a few of them). She would have been one of the first mezzos to sing the whole cycle, I guess (this was 1988).