Winterreise

About five months ago I wrote a scathing review of a recording of Yuri Honing performing parts of Winterreise on saxophone with Nora Mulder on piano. Today I was searching for Winterreise on the beautiful video site vimeo.com and found a video of them performing exceprts. Now you can make your own assessment.

Winterreise from Wim Zagt on Vimeo.

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