Ian Bostridge & Thomas Ades: Schubert's Winterreise, Barbican

Franz Schubert is one of the very greatest of nineteenth-century composers, and the unrivalled master of lieder. His Winterreise (1827) is arguably the very pinnacle of the genre. 

A sequence of twenty-four songs, all settings of poems by the composer’s contemporary Wilhelm Muller, Winterreise has an incredible emotional depth. Beginning with a disenchanted lover realizing that his passion was mistaken, the lieder descend slowly into complete desolation as the protagonist travels through a sparse wintry landscape. Extraordinarily beautiful in their melancholy, Schubert’s songs are one of the masterpieces of Western music.

Tenor Ian Bostridge is a unique talent in vocal music. Initially devoted to academia, his first professional recital came at the age of 27. Immediately acclaimed for his 1994 performance of Winterreise, he soon became Britain’s best known lied-singer. His voice, which ranges from choirboy highs to a grizzled low, is more rawly expressive than that of many traditionally trained singers. 

Schubert’s songs have been a lifelong fixation for Bostridge, and lend great passion to his performances. Few singers have such insight into the piece. His upcoming book, Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession, promises to explore the sequence’s enigmatic potency through both a personal and a historical lens. After the concert, ticket-holders are invited to watch Bostridge in conversation with Guardian critic Tom Service. 

Winterreise is one of the few Romantic song sequences where the piano is equal to the voice. Thomas Ades, although best known as the foremost British composer of his generation, is an accomplished pianist. He has frequently collaborated with Bostridge, and over the past three years has attracted praise for his recitals with the tenor. This is likely to be one of the most significant vocal recitals of 2015.