Sir Simon Rattle conducts Schubert's Winterreise – a composed interpretation for tenor and small orchestra by Hans Zender

Winterreise is a song cycle composed by Schubert based on 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller. Although not a chronological narrative, it is nevertheless a series of interrelated songs. In 1993, German conductor and composer Hans Zender prepared a "composed interpretation" of Winterreise for tenor and an orchestra modest in number, but highly varied in its array of instruments. The work is performed by tenor Mark Padmore, renowned for the sensitivity and beauty of his Schubert lieder performances, and Ensemble Connect directed by Sir Simon Rattle, a great advocate for the Zender arrangement.

Winterreise relates the travels of a poet as he wanders through the bleak countryside in winter, musing on his past happiness, sick with despair over his lost love, resigned to a hopeless future. He is the quintessential Romantic anti-hero, filled with self-doubt, remorse, and melancholia. Peace in the grave would constitute a welcome release, but even this is denied him. By the end of the cycle, he is resigned to accepting the perpetual lot of the outcast.

Photo: Mark Padmore © Marco Borgrevve – Sir Simon Rattle © Mat Hennek EMI (source Askonasholt)