Winterreise mit Joyce DiDonato by Schubert, P 26 märts 2023, Alates (2023/2023), Stadthaus Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland

Franz Schubert called his "Winter Journey" a "cycle of horrific songs". An odyssey with a fatal outcome, without turning back, without consolation. The ice-cold wintry nature and the hopeless inner despondency of the winter hiker? both meet here. Torn between bitterness, hope and longing for death, he fluctuates from one emotional extreme to the other. "They attacked me more than any other song ever did," admitted Schubert. On another occasion he said: "My products exist through the mind for music and through my pain; and those which pain alone has produced seem least to please the world." At least the latter has changed fundamentally: When it comes to important song art, Schubert's "Winterreise" is right at the top, above all comparisons, and the cycle is undoubtedly one of the most moving artistic manifestations that one can listen to. Schubert originally wrote these 24 songs for tenor. But even in his day they were sung in other registers, and they are also not exclusively reserved for male voices: Elena Gerhardt and Lotte Lehmann, and more recently Brigitte Fassbaender and Christa Ludwig sang the cycle with great artistic success.