[Rogerx]

I am looking very much forward to this one.
l:

It's arrived, need more listing for a real judgment.

 

[juliante]

Will await verdict. Great cover

 

[AClockworkOrange]

My preferred option would be Mezzo Soprano thanks to Brigitte Fassbaender. Hers was the version which really resonated with me and she is one of my favourite Lieder singers. Her delivery is crisp and captures the nature and character of the music wonderfully.

Of the options in the poll, I tend to favour Baritones. In this piece I especially love Herrmann Prey’s interpretation. Like Fassbaender, Prey is one of my favourite male Lieder singers. His tone and delivery is simply fantastic. It has a rounded, very human quality that I find enthralling in Lieder (and Opera).

 

[Art Rock]

Prey is one of my favourite male Lieder singers.

I always find it fascinating how different our tastes are even though we all love classical music, and in this case Schubert's Winterreise in particular. Prey is one of my least favourite Lieder singers. No right or wrong - à chacun son goût.

 

[AClockworkOrange]

I always find it fascinating how different our tastes are even though we all love classical music, and in this case Schubert's Winterreise in particular. Prey is one of my least favourite Lieder singers. No right or wrong - à chacun son goût.

I agree that it is fascinating. I think the appeal of different singers to different people is incredibly subjective. I think it's often as much to do with the listener as it is with the performer.

The wonderful thing about music is the range of different interpretations it can successfully support and the different qualities which can be brought out. As you rightly say, there's no right or wrong.

 

[Rogerx]

Benjamin Appl and Joseph Middleton play Der Lindenbaum for BBC Radio 3 at the BBC's Maida Vale Studio.
Benjamin Appl is a BBC New Generation Artist

 

[Mister Meow]

As usual, I have only heard (or remember hearing) one recording, and it's with Thomas Quasthoff and Charles Spencer, so that's my current favorite. I should try some other ones when I'm feeling more adventurous.

 

[juliante]

A tenor voice such as Mark Padmore's suits the icy atmosphere better i find. Much as a love quastoff's voice.

 

[Mister Meow]

As usual, I have only heard (or remember hearing) one recording, and it's with Thomas Quasthoff and Charles Spencer, so that's my current favorite. I should try some other ones when I'm feeling more adventurous.

So I checked on Hoopla today and they have 40 (!) different recordings available. How am supposed to decide which one to listen to first? Just start at the top? What if I get tired of this work before I finish listening to all 40 versions?

 

[Monsalvat]

So I checked on Hoopla today and they have 40 (!) different recordings available. How am supposed to decide which one to listen to first? Just start at the top? What if I get tired of this work before I finish listening to all 40 versions?

You can try this guide: https://www.gramophone.co.uk/featur...erreise-a-quick-guide-to-essential-recordings

There is also this older thread from this site: Help Choosing a Winterreise Recording

I don't know the Fischer-Dieskau/Demus recording that Gramophone liked in the article I linked, but I am familiar with the Fischer-Dieskau/Moore recording, and I think he is a good place to start. I also know that Fischer-Dieskau recorded it with Daniel Barenboim, and with Alfred Brendel, so you have a lot of choices with just this one singer! There is also a 1954 mono recording with Hans Hotter and Gerald Moore. For tenors, the two choices that come to my mind are Peter Schreier and Peter Pears (since I recently listened to Pears' recording with Benjamin Britten).

 

[Mister Meow]

There is also this older thread from this site: Help Choosing a Winterreise Recording

Thanks. I should have known that this question would have been answered already somewhere on the forum.

 

[Ludwig Schon]

Kaufmann has been my go to Winterreise for quite a while now, with Gura my choice for Die Schone Mullerin

Has either work ever been undertaken by a countertenor?

P.S. I absolutely despise effete, Bullingdon Bostridge and his Allo Allo exaggerated accent. Padmore should also not be allowed to sing in German. Two tragically bad lieder singers, beloved of the English press…

 

[wkasimer]

So I checked on Hoopla today and they have 40 (!) different recordings available. How am supposed to decide which one to listen to first? Just start at the top? What if I get tired of this work before I finish listening to all 40 versions?

I think that you should narrow it down. Do you want a man or a woman singing? If the former, tenor, baritone, or bass? Do you prefer a modern piano or a period instrument (fortepiano)? Do you value vocal beauty over expression? If you think about some of these things, it's easier to narrow your choices.

 

[Mandryka]

So I checked on Hoopla today and they have 40 (!) different recordings available. How am supposed to decide which one to listen to first? Just start at the top? What if I get tired of this work before I finish listening to all 40 versions?

Listen to 30 seconds of one song from each and see which voices turn you off and which voices turn you on. Then take the ones which you can tolerate and listen in alphabetical order.

 

[Mister Meow]

Today, by chance, I listened to part of a recording by Werner Güra (tenor) and Christoph Berner on Harmonia Mundi. I still prefer Thomas Quasthoff and Charles Spencer, for both the singing and piano parts. It seems like I often prefer whichever recording I heard first, though that's not always the case.

 

[Wigmar]

Tenor or Baritone or Bass baritone or Bass? I never tire of this piece and so like to hear different voices. But if i had to choose i guess it would be tenor, the sonorities suit the frosty feel.

Wolfgang Holzmair, baritone. He sings brilliantly.