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BEVROREN TRANEN (Frozen Tears)
A Winterreise as you have never heard it before
Schubert’s Winterreise is, of course, one of the most moving compositions ever written. And also one of the darkest. An ice-cold world in which even death can no longer offer a solution.
It is, of course, also a work that, thanks to its ambiguity, can be interpreted in endlessly many ways. Winterreise has been sung by women (Lotte Lehmann, Christa Ludwig, Brigitte Fassbaender, Joyce DiDonato) and in many languages, including Swedish and the Groningen dialect. Jan Rot also made a translation. It has also been arranged, among others, for chamber orchestra and female voice (Hans Zender) or for five (!) sopranos (Maurice Lammerts van Bueren).
In this version, no note is sung. A few times there is meaningful humming, but otherwise Wilhelm Müller’s text is presented in a Dutch translation. Some sections are even entirely instrumental. This is therefore a recording of a music-theatre performance. The subtitle of the CD is not without reason “Schubert’s Winterreise transformed.” Transformed from piano to guitars, from sung to spoken, and from German to Dutch. Clarinetist/recitation artist Gerard Zuyderhoff made the translation; guitarist/composer Annette Kruisbrink made the transformation of Schubert’s music into a version for guitar duo.
Everything shows that Annette Kruisbrink is a composer. Effortlessly, she knows how to capture the essence of Schubert’s music without following the original note-for-note. That she is a guitarist is evident from the many typical “guitarisms” that illustrate the text: cutting, icy chords, the inviting rustling of the linden tree, or the hopeful beating of the heart in Die Post, against better judgment. After all, let us not forget that Schubert himself played the guitar.
The recording is very successful. Gerard Zuyderhoff reveals himself here as a gripping storyteller. The Anido Guitar Duo plays the stars down from the sky. A Winterreise not to be missed.
Gerard van der Leeuw
Schubert’s Winterreise is, of course, one of the most moving compositions ever written. And also one of the darkest. An ice-cold world in which even death can no longer offer a solution.
It is, of course, also a work that, thanks to its ambiguity, can be interpreted in endlessly many ways. Winterreise has been sung by women (Lotte Lehmann, Christa Ludwig, Brigitte Fassbaender, Joyce DiDonato) and in many languages, including Swedish and the Groningen dialect. Jan Rot also made a translation. It has also been arranged, among others, for chamber orchestra and female voice (Hans Zender) or for five (!) sopranos (Maurice Lammerts van Bueren).
In this version, no note is sung. A few times there is meaningful humming, but otherwise Wilhelm Müller’s text is presented in a Dutch translation. Some sections are even entirely instrumental. This is therefore a recording of a music-theatre performance. The subtitle of the CD is not without reason “Schubert’s Winterreise transformed.” Transformed from piano to guitars, from sung to spoken, and from German to Dutch. Clarinetist/recitation artist Gerard Zuyderhoff made the translation; guitarist/composer Annette Kruisbrink made the transformation of Schubert’s music into a version for guitar duo.
Everything shows that Annette Kruisbrink is a composer. Effortlessly, she knows how to capture the essence of Schubert’s music without following the original note-for-note. That she is a guitarist is evident from the many typical “guitarisms” that illustrate the text: cutting, icy chords, the inviting rustling of the linden tree, or the hopeful beating of the heart in Die Post, against better judgment. After all, let us not forget that Schubert himself played the guitar.
The recording is very successful. Gerard Zuyderhoff reveals himself here as a gripping storyteller. The Anido Guitar Duo plays the stars down from the sky. A Winterreise not to be missed.
Gerard van der Leeuw