Music Lane

RE: Please Help Me Pick my First "Winterreise"

24.34.100.89

Kas

A

In Reply to: RE: Please Help Me Pick my First "Winterreise" posted by Cosmic Closet on August 06, 2010 at 11:33:39

As the owner of about 80 recordings of the cycle, I can't even begin to recommend a single one. But if you want someone to milk it for all it's worth, you might want to start with Fischer-Dieskau and Moore, 1966 (Deutsche Grammophon).

My shortlist of "must hear" recordings:

Tenors:
Pears/Britten
Anders/Raucheisen
Pregardien/Staier
Schreier/Richter

Baritones:
Hagegard/Schuback
Gerhaher/Huber
Goerne/Johnson
Goerne/Brendel
Hotter/Raucheisn
Hotter/Moore
Hynninen/Gothoni

Basses:
Van Dam/Baldwin

I'm sure I missed a couple due to failing memory...

Follow Ups:

Thomas Hampson - Bob Stern 23:59:07 08/12/10 (2)
... rates above some of those you mentions, IMHO. Hampson does a great job of conveying the emotional volatility of a young man rejected by his first serious love.

I don't like Hotter in this. His expressive style (I don't mean his vocal production) conveys a uniform sadness without the variety of moods in the text.
- Hotter - Kas 05:20:38 08/13/10 (1)
  That's in part a problem with a bass or bass-baritone - the vocal color is dark, and the range requires downward transposition. Have you heard Hotter's earlier recordings made during WW2? The voice was more baritone back then.
  
  Hampson has the right voice, but to me it sounds more like a singing lesson than an interpretation.
  - RE: Hotter - Bob Stern 21:29:46 08/13/10 (0)
    I have 2 by Hotter: 1942 with Raucheisen, and 1954 with Gerald Moore.
    
    Listening to them just now, I enjoyed them much more than I remembered, and there is more variety of expression than I remembered, especially the 1942. The expression strikes me as interesting and very natural. The 1954 is more delicate, including Moore's contribution.
    
    However, I continue to prefer the styles of F-D and Hampson that many people consider exaggerated or contrived.
You da man on Winterreise! - What do you think of Souzay? [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 23:35:20 08/06/10 (2)
- Souzay - Kas 05:02:49 08/07/10 (1)
  The problem with Souzay is that his earliest two recordings of the cycle are very hard to find, and the later ones aren't as good. And even the earlier two aren't quite in my top tier.
  
  BTW, there's an exhaustive discography at the Schubert Institute website:
  - Winterreise Discography (Open in New Window)
  - Wow! Thanks for the link - what a great resource! - Chris from Lafayette 08:54:09 08/07/10 (0)
    Souzay II was my imprint version. :-)
    
    However, even today, I think I prefer it to the F-D recordings made around that time (early 60's). I don't have the problem with F-D that I do with Schwartzkopf (in terms of grotesque over-emoting), but I still think he lets it all hang out a bit too much, not only in Winterreise, but in general.

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