Schubert: Winterreise (Winter Journey)

Wilmering’s singing of the final verse is something very special. Not many performances make me want to start all over again but this is one of them. Returning to Gute Nacht, the phrase “in my beginning is my end” takes on a peculiarly appropriateness. The great song cycle has always been about mortality and this, it seems to me, is a great performance of it.

Wilmering’s singing of the final verse is something very special. Not many performances make me want to start all over again but this is one of them. Returning to Gute Nacht, the phrase “in my beginning is my end” takes on a peculiarly appropriateness. The great song cycle has always been about mortality and this, it seems to me, is a great performance of it.

Wilmering's very clear, transparent and highly flexible baritone voice is a delight to hear. He can be delicate, yearning, quietly pleading, then transition to huge power and impact.

Thanks to the involuntary concert break that had caused the pandemic, baritone Michael Wilmering and his pianist Daan Boertien had a lot of time to study Winterreise in depth. During that period, Boertien even attended a master class with Alfred Brendel.
The result is impressive, not least because TRPTK has managed to capture the piano and the voice beautifully.
In his interpretation Wilmering emphasizes the richly present dark sides in the cycle, which is expressed in, among other things, thoughtful tempi that allow the baritone to let his beautiful voice blossom. The duo have audibly thought about every phrase and note.