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Ian Bostridge: Why Winterreise? Schubert’s song cycle, then and now

85K views · Dec 1, 2014 · People & Blogs

The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust

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Comments · 57

@ivanjacoby7748 · 11 years ago
The lecture raises an interesting point. There are two ways to access a work of art, one of them is by the detailed study of the history, influences and the period in which it was created, the other is the intuitive route, what does this say to me, stripped bare and looking at it in a contemporary way. That Ian Bostridge should choose the former is not surprising, given he is an historian. What this lecture, and incidentally his fascinating book does, is shine a light on the creation of a masterpiece and give us, the laymen, a foothold to build our understanding . I came to the Winterriese almost by accident. I worked as a merchant seaman, an engineer to be precise. I found the recording in a shop in Hong Kong and when I played it I found it intensely moving and somehow a commentary on my own life, that of a wanderer across the oceans, with all that implies. I do not speak German but somehow the music and the music of the words spoke to me in profound way. To say that I understood it fully would be a travesty, but understand I did. And surely that is what great art is about, it speaks a truth to us all within our personal experiences. I wonder if my experience of the piece would have been so sharp and poignant if I had followed the art historical route at that time. The truth is I did not need to, I was there! I am older now with a lifetime of experience and my return to the work through Ian Bostridge’s book and the recordings of both him and Fischer-Dieskau is a different affair, less raw and more considered, more intellectual, if you like. So there is a place for both. What I would also say with respect to the performer is that this process can follow exactly the same trajectory, it can be historical and research based or it can be intuitive. Neither holds the ascendency neither is the ‘right’ way, just different. And art both as a writer and as a performer is a creative process. Create – ‘cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes’. It is the truly great artists and performers who somehow do both.
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@sarahpassell226 · 4 years ago (edited)
As a dilettante, if I do say so myself, I think anyone who adds depth and richness to a dilettante's appreciation for a work of art has a gift. I've loved Winterreise since I heard it, as a teenager, on a Fischer-Diskau recording on DG more than 45 years ago, and now I know a little about what makes it beautiful to me, and I love it even more. If Bostridge's style is a bit mannered or audacious, it's still gorgeous ... to this dilletante's ear.
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@BokeYuzgen · 11 years ago
This upload is a gift. Thank you very much.
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@chrigrue · 10 years ago
It is inspiring to have not only his exceptional singing voice, but his beautiful and clever mind speaking to us.
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@Morechopinplease · 9 years ago
Nice lecture. I also liked Ian Bostridge's book very much. I am bemused however at the comments attacking his singing - if you don't like his style, don't listen; but don't go claiming he isn't a good singer or a good artist. There are dozens of interpretations of Winterreise available, different voices, different artistic approaches... It's simply one of those transcendent works of art that can bear such a myriad of interpretations. Personally, Ian's Winterreise would not be my desert island go-to (that place goes to one of Fischer-Dieskau's versions), but I enjoyed it for all its idiosyncrasies. Boring it isn't. No doubt I'll continue to enjoy Winterreise in many, many different interpretations in the years to come.
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@irenechoe · 8 years ago
I went to Ian's performance at Eastman School of Music, February of 2018 and it changed my life.  Life is a journey, and I'm a wanderer. "This is one of those songs that seem to have been going on forever at the very moment that they start. Repeated, moderately paced quavers trudge across the page and on through the song, restless, intertwined at first with a dispiriting descending figure broken by the stabs of accents which in Schubert's manuscript are stabs of pain.  In that same manuscript, Schubert has given the song tempo marking  "moderate, at a walking pace" -- and that walking motion, like a dying fall, is the touchstone of the whole work: a winter journey, moving from one place to another but, in a sense, privileging motion above all else, the need to get away, to be a wanderer in the nineteenth century's sense (the Wandering Jew, the Flying Dutchman), on the road in the twentieth century's (Jack Kerouac, Highway 61)."
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@jeffbetts9420 · 9 months ago
I am enjoying his book and have always enjoyed his voice and intelligent singing. An intelligent singer. I love the sound of that.
@twigbirchwood · 10 years ago
Actual lecture begins at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuEapI4dEBQ&t=495">8:15</a>.
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@wishcraft4u2 · 11 years ago
Whow I noticed those in between song transitions almost right away! I feel so smart now :D
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@banginghats2 · 8 months ago (edited)
Interesting lecture, and an amazing performance at the end, especially considering he performed it in spite of having a cough to contend with.
@renzo6490 · 4 years ago (edited)
Skip introductions to 8 minutes 10 seconds for lecture. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuEapI4dEBQ&t=490">8:10</a>
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@ianson3 · 11 years ago
This is an excellent talk. I'm looking forward to Ian Bostridge's Winterreise at the Library of Congress even though I'm not usually a fan of his. Don't think I'll be able to avoid buying his book either.
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