Winterreise

A week ago I wrote about the new recording of Winterreise by Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis, and today I find a fantastic review of it over at wosu.org, the website for WOSU public media. The reviewer Jennifer Hambrick clearly knows her lieder and her Winterreise. The review features four excellent musical excerpts which each highlight sections of the recording which are unique and remarkable. Check it out.

The review

I recently bought Yuri Honing and Nora Mulder’s Winterries CD from Amazon. Winterreise recorded on saxophone? How interesting! Unfortunately the let downs began as soon as I flipped the (cardboard) case over. Contrary to what the cover implies the disc does not contain the entire Winterreise cycle performed on Saxophone. The thirteen track disc contains twelve songs for Winterreise, in a seemingly random order, and then ends with Schubert’s Der Tod und das Mädchen.

While I bought the album for it’s novelty appeal, I must admit that I held some hope that the saxophone would somehow transcend language and cut directly to the heart of the dense music; expressing the lonesome yearning and tender heartbreak. How wrong I was. While I still maintain that such a recording could be made, Continue reading