Page 198 - Winterreise Coverage Book, 2021 - 22

stands. The scene is set immediately, with Benjamin Appl trudging
through deep snow, in a snow storm (apparently, the snow began to fall

just before filming began). Here is Schubert’s lonely wanderer, having
left the house of his beloved, cast out on a journey of reflection on love,
love lost, regret, sorrow, the torment of reawakening hope and the
journey to resignation. Set to poems by Wilhelm Müller, this is a literal

and metaphorical journey for the protagonist.

I love this music (and as regular readers/followers know, I love the
music of Schubert in general, and his later piano music in particular),
and I’ve heard Winterreise in concert on a number of occasions, each

one of them moving and memorable – Ian Bostridge with Mitsuko
Uchida, in English translation with Roderick Williams and Chris Glyn, in
a modern reworking in Zender’s Winterreise (also with Bostridge) and

most recently sung by mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager with
Julius Drake, on one of the hottest days of the year back in the summer
of 2018. Each time I have found much to ponder in this, perhaps the
finest song cycle by Schubert, or indeed anyone else….