Franz Schubert: Winterreise, D. 911 – Richard Resch

The last year in Franz Schubert’s life has something prodigious. A young man who had but recently turned 30, around whom Death was closing his net quickly. Among works of absolute beauty and imposing duration, such as the last three Piano Sonatas (to name but one example), Winterreise would suffice, alone, in establishing Schubert’s status as that of one of the greatest composers of all times. Winterreise is a cycle of twenty-four Lieder by Wilhelm Müller. Schubert, of course, was and is the undisputed master of the Lieder genre and in particular of the cycle of Lieder. In Winterreise, Schubert’s art is at its highest. This cycle, perhaps the best known in the entire literature of vocal chamber music, is a deep, varied, intense and touching exploration of the abysses of the human soul, of the wounds in relationships, of what it means to be in love, of what death is or represents. All this is set to music of heart-rending beauty, sung by Richard Resch with pianist Diego Caetano in this Da Vinci Classics production.