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quasi-religious cadences that appear in the second half and the continual play-off
between major and minor keys throughout – so simple, but so effective.’

Appl and Baillieu have now done Winterreise about 30 times together, often in
different presentations. ‘We did it in a version with an Austrian actor,’ recalls Baillieu,

‘where he interspersed a different journey – a catastrophic North Pole expedition,
people going through hell. He is a very strong actor and he really inspired us,

especially where we have just 42 seconds to make an impression. It was quite a
good way of capturing and motivating the songs.’

The filming of Winterreise in Switzerland also gave both artists a face-to-face
encounter with the power of snow, as their car was stuck for two hours on their way

to the Julier Tower. ‘The cycle’s character exists in the landscape much better than
we did,’ offers Baillieu. ‘A connection to the feel of ice and snow in everyday life is

what I actually got, for the first time, at the tower. I’ve been skiing before, and
travelled in a sanitised way through snow, where you don’t actually engage with it;

but there, where we had to dig ourselves out of the car, try to drive down icy paths
and push open the door of the tower, having been snowed in, we really experienced

a different side of it. The moment you step outside, you’re covered in snow and it’s
really not very pleasant. It’s quite a change from it being something beautiful, such
as you’d encounter on a ski holiday, to it being something almost brutal and primal.’

Winterreise remains a powerful experience for any audience, an act of connection