Matthias Goerne’s Winterreise “I have never heard better”…

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra  presents | INTERNATIONAL PIANISTS IN RECITAL

26 March, 2025, City Recital Hall, Sydney NSW

DANIIL TRIFONOV piano

MATTHIAS GOERNE baritone

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828) – Winterreise D911 (1827) 

German baritone Matthias Goerne and pianist Daniil Trifonov are world renowned soloists and as a duo tour Australia for the first time in recitals of music by Schubert. Their first concert at the City Recital Hall in Sydney was the song cycle Winterreise. This is a composition of 24 songs that has the capacity to take the listener on a journey that makes you feel wrung out at the completion of 70 minutes of sublime music. Matthias Goerne and Daniil Trifonov gave a masterclass in how to deliver artsong in a hall with 1000 people. This was no shrinking violet event but one where every single potential moment of emotion was pushed to the absolute limit. Sometimes Schubert lulls us into thinking that this or that song will be lighthearted with a breezy piano introduction but then the passion drips from his pen and it’s once again into the world of longing or loss or fear of loss. Winterreise is a journey in music, in poetry and the marriage between these art forms. In terms of early romantic music it is a statement of perfection.  

Simply put Goerne has one of the most amazing voices you can come across in a vocal recital – full of anguish one moment then dripping with honey and always delivering the music with the most perfect phrasing. I have never heard better and I have heard many great singers. He coaxes the listener, he implores and sometimes he even demands that we journey with him on this great musical voyage.  

Initially I feared whether one of the new superstars in the piano concerto world would be a good fit for this work. Trifonov proves that his astonishing technique can be the servant of any form he chooses to play. He brings forth sounds from the piano that have been rarely heard in vocal recitals and the music shone because of it. Some may suggest that he brings a late Romantic view, indeed, even an early 20th century view to the music. The truth is he brings a ‘wow’ factor and it was an amazing experience to hear it.  

The applause went on and on … and maybe it deserved even more. 

Sydney concertgoers have another chance to hear these performers on Sunday, March 30 at 2pm at the City Recital Hall – INFO HERE >>

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A little aside …    

In 2014 I was staying in a hotel in Vienna a stone’s throw from where Franz Schubert resided and where as a young person he sang at a church. I felt a special longing to immerse myself in the place where so many of my compositional heroes lived and worked. To walk in the narrow streets and alleyways, to cross the river and from various bridges look down onto the rhythmic movement of the Danube. At times I thought the modern world was quiet enough to hear the sounds that Schubert could have heard – water, wind and feet on cobbled pathways, echoes here and there. I am sure all composers are at some time influenced by the sounds that surround them and in Winterreise there are many moments where, in my opinion, the piano writing shows such influence and dare I suggest, the vocal writing is a cry from that place, a time long ago. 

Winterreise D911

1. Gute Nacht (Good Night)
2. Die Wetterfahne (The Weathervane)
3. Gefror’ne Tränen (Frozen Tears)
4. Erstarrung (Numbness)
5. Der Lindenbaum (The Linden Tree)
6. Wasserflut (Flood Water)
7. Auf dem Fluße (On the River)
8. Rückblick (A Look Backward)
9. Irrlicht (Will o’ the Wisp)
10. Rast (Rest)
11. Frühlingstraum (Dream of Spring)
12. Einsamkeit (Loneliness)
13. Die Post (The Mail Coach)
14. Der greise Kopf (The Old Man’s Head)
15. Dir Krähe (The Crow)
16. Letzte Hoffnung (Last Hope)
17. Im Dorfe (In the Village)
18. Der stürmische Morgen (The Stormy Morning)
19. Täuschung (Deception)
20. Der Wegweiser (The Signpost)
21. Das Wirtshaus (The Inn)
22. Mut (Courage)
23. Die Nebensonnen (The Phantom False Suns)
24. Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man)