Customer Reviews

Schubert: Winterreise / Pears, Britten

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If I had to make a short list of "Winterreise" performances that I think every serious listener should hear, Pears/Britten would be on it. It seems to cast an entirely different light on the cycle than any other performance I have ever heard. It is sui generis, alien and profoundly "other," and it works in a bizarre way that I don't really understand, but which I find very intriguing. From the very beginning, Pears and Britten are in a different place, markedly distant from the "Winterreise" tradition that I have become familiar with. Every "Winterreise" performance (by a male singer)that I find persuasive, be it Hotter, Huesch, Fischer-Dieskau, Schmitt-Walter, or Anders, seems to move from a state of more or less normalcy into varying degrees of darkness and alienation. Pears and Britten, on the other hand, are alien from the first moment you hear them. You can well imagine why Mom and Dad are happy to find a more suitable husband for their little girl-- this guy is a geek, a weirdo, an outsider, not someone you could ever feel comfortable with. It's the quality of the voice, the strangely-flavored German, the little hitches and twitches in the rhythms, the occasional odd emphases. It's as if this protagonist is from another planet and the text and the music are being filtered through the Universal Translator. It's recognizable, yes, but everything is just that little bit "off," so that you are constantly off-balance and on edge. The expected progression away from what is comfortable and accustomed to a state of profound loneliness and alienation doesn't quite happen. When Pears sings "Fremd bin ich eingezogen, fremd zieh ich wieder aus," it seems exactly true: he was weird when he came and he is still weird when he leaves, and somehow, thanks to Britten's playing, the whole outside world reflects his weirdness. When I try to imagine this fellow, I think of Heine's "Der arme Peter"-- the people who see him say that he looks as if he has just stepped out of the grave, but he is actually on his way to the grave. And he has had a "kick-me" sign on his back since birth. This "Winterreise" protagonist seems very similar, someone who could never fit in and has nowhere to go but down to destruction. If I follow Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore through "Winterreise," as I have done countless times, there is a mounting anxiety and uneasiness, as the wanderer feels himself drifting further and further away from life as everyone else lives it and finally realizes that he can never get back, that he will be isolated for the rest of his life. There is an underlying horror in "Der Leiermann," as if the wanderer is looking in a mirror and seeing his own face and realizing that this is what he has become. With Pears and Britten, on the other hand, it's almost as if he is going home to where he belongs. It's eerie. The cycle never resolves itself, you don't reach catharsis. Maybe it's what Schubert had in mind, I don't know. I just know that it makes me profoundly uncomfortable and I'm glad I have experienced it.

As far as I know, Schubert was the youngest composer ever. By his premature death at 31, the world lost potential masterpieces - forever. Poet Franz Grillparzer wrote him a commemoration inscribed at his tombstone that reads: "Here music has buried a treasure, but even fairer hopes."

Franz Shubert (b 1797, d 1828) was the father of Song Cycle (D 795) written by poet William Muller. Later - 1827 - one year before he died, Shubert composed Muller's Winterreise - Winter Journey - D 911 considered the peak of `'German Lieder. `'.

On his death bed - 1827 - Beethoven said of him "Schubert's intelligence is divine". Schubert outlived Beethoven by only one year.

In this recording we can listen to 24 tenor/piano works out of about 600 pieces written and composed within such very short life span.

This young composer is often referred to as the founder of the Lied. (I.e. Schubert is the founder of the German art songs of the nineteenth century for voice and piano).

When first spoke about `'Winter Journey'', he told his friends "I am going to sing a cycle of sinister lieder to you.....They have touched me more than others." His friends were surprised as he never disclosed his plans to anyone.

Nothing upset Schubert more than the death of `'the grand master Beethoven''. The young composer took part in Beethoven's funeral and carried one of the candles. A few months later, when he felt his hour was nearing, he asked to be buried at Beethoven's side. Beethoven's death caused a great grief to Schubert, heartbroken he couldn't compose again. (Perhaps until after six months)

"Winterreise" is therefore separated in two groups, one written before and the other after Beethoven's death.

Peter Pears (tenor) and Benjamin Britten (piano) have been exceedingly good at performing all 24 Lieder.

One has to be in quiet mood to accept the absence of the traditional melodious music. In these songs Death is ubiquitous from `Gute Nacht' to `Der Leiermann'' .... Why one should love life ....should we still love it once we know it will be lost ....Winter ... Snow ... Frozen rivers....slippery grounds ...the looks of the cemeteries at the end of the road.

My God !!! Only the living can appreciate the full meaning of this work.

Having listened to at least ten Winterreises, this one being (surprisingly) my latest, it is difficult to write a review that speaks only of this recording (Pears and Britten) without comparing. But since a review consisting solely of comparisons is of no use, I'll do both: I'll write about this recording, and I'll compare, too.

For those of you for whom this will be your first Winterreise: although the lyrics are simplistic, the range of emotions and depth of feeling in Winterreise are so great that each interpretation, each singer, each accompanist, can make it sound very different. One cannot afford to listen to only one performance of the Winterreise and leave it at that. Many listeners who enjoy the Winterreise the first time go on to looking at other recordings. The first one you listen to is important, since that probably be the most lasting impression you'll get of the work; and so, one needs to be find a good "first Winterreise".

You can't go wrong choosing this one (Pears and Britten) as your first. With the exception of Fisher-Dieskau's, this is one of the better Winterreises I've heard. It is highly listenable, and Pears' voice carries through well enough in most parts. The words I'd use to describe Pears' performance is "heartfelt, sincere". I think Britten's accompaniment has been overrated in the reviews you'll read; I feel there is a certain unwarranted flamboyance about it. But that should not detract from Pears' inspired voice. If Winterreise is hyper-emotional and sentimental, Pears is more than up to the task; in fact, he sometimes overdoes it, but usually with pleasant results.

There is a certain quality about this performance that I cannot find the right word for - "compelling" comes close. It is difficult not to enjoy Pears and Britten.

There is not much more that I have to say to beginning Winterreise listeners. "Get this recording" probably sums it up.

For those of you who have listened to Fischer-Dieskau's Winterreises, and want to listen to a Tenor version - this one is one of the best, if not the best. Let me put it this way: after Fischer-Dieskau, every Winterreise must be tested against that standard, and one usually finds more faults than positives with every recording. This is one recording about which I have relatively few complaints.

Pears' tone sometimes crosses the line from "heartfelt" to "whining". And he has this curious manner of abrupt note-changing at the beginnings of words: as a result, the words sometimes do not seem to flow from one to the next as they do in speech. This can be distracting at times.

I am sorry to have to say this, but the fact is that listening to any good Winterreise, this one for instance, only makes one see what it is that sets Fischer-Dieskau apart! I have no intentions of downplaying this excellent performance. It may not make sense to compare, too, since Pears is a tenor. But the fact remains that when one listens to any great Winterreise side by side with Fischer-Dieskau's, one rediscovers what makes F.-D. rise above all the rest.

The ability to carry the power of the emotion in some places - that is where I feel Pears fails, to an extent. To those familiar with "Winterreise", the ending of "Auf dem Flusse" is a case in point. With particular reference to his 1962 recording with Moore, stanzas like those make F.-D.'s voice seem almost superhuman in its ability to carry the emotion.

Fans of Schubert's masterwork are fortunate to have many great interpretations available - including those of Hans Hotter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and Peter Anders. The Pears-Britten performance, however, is something else altogether. It is one of those great recordings that capture a rare chemistry between the performers, where singer and pianist are so in sync with each other's conception of the piece that neither a single note nor silence seems out of place.

Britten, so well known as a composer, demonstrates his brilliance as a pianist here. From the bleak, sparse textures of "Die Krahe" to the chords of the hymnal "Das Wirtshaus," Britten shows off his extraordinary tone control and balance in every song. Meanwhile, the pacing of each song is completely unerring. Listen, for example, to the well-timed phrases - and the chilling silences - in the existential closer, "Der Leiermann." While Pears' voice is admittedly not the most naturally beautiful-sounding, he matches Britten's great performance with his superb phrasing and tragic, heartrending tone.

In summary, this recording is a supreme example of the art of lieder performance at its very finest. For those in search of a transcendent listening experience, this will mesmerize from beginning to end.

To many music lovers, Winterreise is an extremely sacred work. It puts the German Lied on a very high pedestal as well as the whole idea of romanticism. I've studied and sung the cycle myself and own about twenty recordings of it. Some people will scoff and claim that this is really a cycle for baritones, some people will not be able to get past Peter Pears' voice, one of the least conventional voices of the 20th century. It is also one of the most magnificently expressive voices.

While I was working on Winterreise, my voice teacher suggested I listen to this recording. He then went on to tell me that I shouldn't try to make any of those sounds myself, but that I should hear the commitment to the text and to the music. There are many singers that convince me through their performances of their musicality, their vocal ability, and their acting skills. Only Peter Pears actually convinces me that he's LIVED this and isn't just singing someone else's song cycle. It feels like he's telling me his own story.

As a musician, Britten had accompanied Pears in recitals for well over twenty years when this recording was made; the two of them do not come apart for a single bar the entire time. To say nothing of their personal relationship, this kind of artistic unity is extremely rare to find. They also had to decipher this cycle without the aid of the recordings that we have today; in post-WWII England, the German Lieder recordings that were around weren't easy to come by.

Britten and Pears' interpretation is therefore not directed as much by tradition as a singer like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau or Hans Hotter. It serves the text and music and the listener. When you really get down to it, this is a creepy song cycle. It starts out with broken love and goes downhill from there, through false hope, cold comfort, utter delusion, angry denial, and finally to complete desolation. Pears' Leiermann is sung with a complete absence of emotion until the very last line, where it feels like he summons every last bit of strength in his exhausted soul to ask the organ grinder "will you turn your organ to my songs?"

This recording finds its way into your heart. This performance is what singing and music are about. Maybe you don't find Peter Pears' voice attractive, and maybe the emotions he evokes within you aren't comfortable. I cry practically every time I get to the end of it. But this isn't a comfortable piece, it's a journey (Reise) through human emotion, irrationality, insanity, and loss. At the end, you may feel like you've been dragged through it all, but THIS is what true artists can do for us.

This recording has surpassed the boundaries of its own historical time, to become a relevant cult issue over all these years.

This notable and successful encounter between Pears and the composer legated for the posterity one of the most expressive, incisive, idiomatic and dramatic versions ever recorded.

Don't let it pass, due it's part of the legend.

This famous 1963 recording of Winterreise is sacred in England, and one can read any number of awed reviews that fail to mention the curdled, nasal voice that Pears possessed by this time--he was only 53, but a noticeable wobble, not to mention his innately peculiar timbre, is the price one pays to hear a great musician. There are days when I cringe at the first note, and other days when I can go straight to the heart of Pears' unmatched exprssivity and intelligence. How strange that one of the most off-putting voices should be attached to one of the most involving musical imaginations.

He is more than aided by Britten at the piano; despite his often reticent placement, it's the composer who welds every song together. Britten is able to create unique poetic dramas out of each text--it's a miracle that Schubert's simple vocabulary makes this possible. The two performers are uncannily seamless. They follow a shattering emotional arc for their "winter journey," projecting plaintive melancholy from the start, only to move deeper into the shadows until the eerie, soul-killing bleakness of the last three songs renders the cycle's full tragic impact. But tragedy, we must remember, is transcendent, not simply depressing and self-pitying. It's the vehicle for beauty. That's really the secret of Pears and Britten, that they can elevate Winterreise to a noble experience. For that, any wincing Pears' voice may cause is negligible. Highly recommended.

(To hear Pears in much better voice, it's worth seeking out his 1959 Schone Mullerin, fully as remarkable as this performance. Britten is again the perfect accompanist, and a space of four years is enough to minimize the blemishes that vitiate the later Schubert recital.)

I just wanted to point out that the Schubert: Winterreise reviews featured here are not specific to this recording which was released in 2010.

The immediately preceding reviewer writes of "the curdled, almost baritonal voice that Pears possessed" but then goes on to justify a five-star rating by saying that Pears' "noticeable wobble, not to mention his innately peculiar timbre, is the price one pays to hear a great musician." Such is the honestly held opinion of that reviewer and I respect both it and him. I, however, am absolutely not prepared to pay that price for the abominable Pears--not here, not anywhere, not anytime.

Another reviewer points out that "The Penguin Guide gave this recording a rosette (its highest rating)". This is quite true and it goes a long way to explain why the Penguin Guide--and the good, grey Gramophone Magazine, too, for that matter--are never, never to be relied upon when they review British performances.

With all the wealth of fine performances of Schubert's lieder available from people who actually can sing, why does anyone waste valuable time, money and shelf space on the unhappy groaning of Pears? And if, for some utterly incomprehensible reason, someone might actually want "a very British 'Winterreise'", as the same reviewer put it, there is always Ian Bostridge.

The Penguin Guide gave this recording a rosette (its highest rating), and there is much to recommend. This is a very British "Winterreise" (rather than Germanic). A comparison to the Mattias Goerne recording is instructive.

Britten's playing is quite wonderful and is the main reason to buy this disk. Personally I find Pears' voice a bit grating at times (this is a purely subjective reaction: others love his voice).

It's intersting that music's most famous gay couple (Pears & Britten) were drawn to record this very anguished piece by Schubert, who was probably also gay.