Schubert's Winterreise: A Composed Interpretation

Franz Schubert’s Winterreise (“A Winter’s Journey”), completed a year before his early death, dives deep into the turbulent psychology of love, so deep as to drown in despair. Schubert’s Winterreise: A Composed Interpretation sees German conductor and composer Hans Zender (1936-2019) redecorate the song cycle’s original piano accompaniment with pungent modern harmonies and an astonishing spectrum of tonal colors assembled from an exotic menagerie of instruments, including sandblocks, wind machine, soprano saxophone, and harmonicas. Ghostly horn calls, reminiscent of Gustav Mahler’s “Night Music,” course through “Wasserflut” (“Flood”) and the deeply unsettling “Der greise Kopf,” while the mournful sounds of a tavern band’s accordion and winds strike up in “Der Wegweiser” (“The Signpost”). The reimagined score, played to perfection by Auroa under Nicholas Collon’s direction, supports Allan Clayton’s spine-chilling interpretations of Schubert’s yearning melodies, cataclysmic in their blend of rock-solid vocal technique and harrowing emotional instability.