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| Oded Reich (Courtesy Israeli Opera) |
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was a prolific
composer. He worked fast whenever and wherever inspiration struck. Sadly, he
died young. During the first months of 1827, Schubert was 30 years old, with
less than two years remaining of his life. It was then that he began to compose
"Winterreise" (A Winter's Journey) for male voice and piano, 24 songs to poems of
Wilhelm Müller, an equally short-lived contemporary. It seems the two never
met. In fact, Müller died just as Schubert was beginning work on
"Winterreise". The first 12 songs were published early in 1828. In
November of the same
year, Schubert, on his deathbed, corrected proofs of
the second part. The song cycle sets to music a collection of 24 poems which,
on the surface, create a narrative common to German literary Romanticism: a
jilted lover undertakes a literal and/or psychological journey, which usually
ends in madness or death. Composing "Winterreise" was possibly
Schubert's reckoning with his own death.
The piano part, in collaboration with the
vocal line, is integral to the work, adding depth to the sombre narrative.
Singer and pianist collaborate closely and heedfully, creating the musical and
emotional canvas. Indeed, there are times when the piano assumes the upper
hand, becoming the protagonist (with the voice accompanying, so to speak), commenting
and even answering questions asked or adding information unbeknown to the
wanderer. Additionally, the piano adds an impressive richness to the
poems' depictions related to nature. For whoever probes this song cycle's
depths, it is a life-changing work. There is no room here to mention all the
outstanding singers and pianists who have taken upon themselves to perform
Schubert's "Winter's Journey". In their profound reading into the
work, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore were an unforgettable duo, but there
have been many more. There have,
however, been several new arrangements made of the work; to mention just a few
- moving the piano part to string quartet, one arrangement using the trombone
as a vocal replacement, a setting for piano trio with oboe and bassoon (in
which the oboe takes the melodic line), a setting for two guitars, arranger
Andreas Höricht's selection of 12 of the songs with intermezzo pieces
interspersed between them and an arrangement for soloist and choir, with a minimal
instrumental accompaniment on two accordions. Then there is the imaginative
performance of German tenor Julian Prégardien (and his father Christoph)
setting Hans Zender’s controversial arrangement of Schubert’s piano part for a
small orchestra of classical instruments, with the addition of accordion,
saxophone, xylophone and wind machine!! In 2019, I attended a performance of
"Winterreise" arranged for three female singers and piano at the Tel
Aviv Opera.
Enter Andrew Middleton - flautist,
composer, arranger/orchestrator and educator based in the North East of
England. Middleton is an artist with a passion for composing and arranging for
wind ensembles. The Israeli premiere of his version of "Winterreise"
for baritone and winds, took place in the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern
Studies' Sunday evening concert series on January 5th, 2025. It was performed
by baritone Oded Reich and a chamber quintet consisting of Adi Menczel (flute),
Hila Zabari Peleg (oboe), Keren Dvir-Steckler (clarinet), Ido Diga (bassoon)
and Sharon Polyak (horn). All fine instrumentalists, their playing was
dedicated - competent, tasteful, well integrated and timbrally very pleasing.
The full, reedy ensemble sound right for the more intense songs, creating the
winter squalls in several of them, for example, and the unsettling moments in
"Frühlingstraum" (Dream of Spring), these nicely contrasted with the
springtime freshness evoked by the flute. We certainly experienced the bold
galloping of horses in "Die Post" (The Post) and the protagonist's
cheerless realization of "Der greise Kopf" (The Grey Head), in which,
seeing his head looking grey with its covering of snow, briefly imagines he may
have rapidly aged and rejoices in the prospect of imminent death. I enjoyed
Middleton's dainty solo instrumental comments and exchanges scattered
throughout. The Crow in "Die Krähe", was wonderfully airborne, then,
following the word "Grabe" (grave) sung (enigmatically) on the
highest note of the piece, descending down grave-wards, to the singer's
request. But I was missing the textures of the hammered instrument in certain
of the songs, as in "Rückblick" (On Looking Back), evoking the
protagonist's frantic steps as he runs in one direction and then another,
stopping short each time.
Oded Reich, today one of Israel's foremost
baritones, sings opera, oratorio and art song repertoire. This was his first
venture into singing the whole of "Winterreise" in German. Meeting
its mammoth challenges, his stable, substantial voice gave compelling
expression to the work's emotional course, its smatterings of optimism and its
heavy dose of despair. His personal connection to- and deep enquiry into it
served to draw the listener into its content. Reich's German is articulate and
well enunciated and his powerful voice stood up well to the sturdy wind quintet
sound. I felt this instrumentation, however, deprived him of the opportunity to
create the pared-down, gossamer sounds of the more intimate songs, indeed, of
the song cycle's unique, disquieting, cheerless (sometimes naive) and
otherworldly moments. And I missed hearing the piano accompaniment in "Der
Lindenbaum" (The Linden Tree). The epitome of Romantic salon music, the
piano role in this Lied would seem indispensable to its style, to its
charmingly sentimental Austrian songfulness and to the rendition of its storm
scene. The performance concluded with the artists' aptly spine-chilling
enactment of "Der Leiermann" (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man), with horn and
bassoon bearing the drone, a song whose bleak message defies words.
I look forward to hearing Oded Reich
performing Schubert's "Winterreise" with piano or, even better, with
an early 19th-century fortepiano.
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