‘He has tones for the subtlest feelings, thoughts, and even occurences and circum- stances.’ So said Robert Schumann of Schubert’s songs, and among his six hundred songs this is nowhere clearer than in the three major cycles from his final years: Die schöne Müllerin, Winterreise, and Schwanengesang, a collection assembled posthumously. Love, death, nature, and Weltschmerz are combined in such an exemplary manner that they embody the essence of Romanticism. Together with the renowned Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, the German baritone Matthias Goerne, who sang his first recital at La Monnaie in 1998 and has since been a regular guest, will on three evenings transport you to Schubert’s Romantic world. ‘That’s why I cherish it so, sure of the most beautiful prize; it’s called – yearning! Do you know it?’
