Customer Reviews

Schubert: Winterreise

5 star:		(2)
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Brigitte Fassbaender brings such an exciting, involved, magical and BEAUTIFUL experience to Schubert's stunning compositions. The bargain price concluded the issue for me but alas, there is no text or translation. There are short and interesting little notes on Schubert, the music (and the poetry it is derived from) as well as the performers. No song-by-song commentary I'm afraid but I dare say that with Fassbaender's dramatic interpretation and Aribert Reimann's sensitive accompaniment, I can feel the moods and tones of the poems without knowing or understanding the words.

No doubt I will either purchase another set with the words and translation, or search for the words/translation themselves on the Internet- work such as this deserves full appreciation and words have their own immutable quality. Nevertheless, this recording was a must for me, both as a Fassbaender and Schubert fan. I recommend it whole-heartedly to EVERYONE.

After she retired from opera, Birgitte Fasbaender devoted herself almost completely to lieder swinging, at which she became a renowned mistress of the art. In this relatively early Winterreise (1988) she takes on a man's cycle with complete conviciton and authority. Indeed, the advantage of a woman's voice comes in greater flexibility and agility--I've never heard anyone negotiate Schubert's leaps and runs with such courage and panache. This artist can be emotionally overbearing, but here she reins in the desperation and anguish of the cycle. Even so, hers is a wrenching interpretation. Her long-time accompanist, Albert Reimann, isn't on her level; his palying is striaghtforward to the point of bluntness. This is one Winterreise entirely carried by the singer, but Fasbaender is more than equal to the task.