Since their performances at the Mannheim and Gstaad festivals in 2023, Matthias Goerne and Maria João Pires have been acclaimed by international critics as “a perfect combination” for this song cycle, frequently garnering praise in specialized publications.
The pair has been described as offering a “sublime ‘Winter Journey'” with “vast mastery of narrative, diction, and comprehensibility,” according to Backtrack.com following their premiere, ultimately calling it “a perfect combination, a once-in-a-lifetime concert.”
Forum Opera noted that “from the first piano notes of ‘Gute Nacht’,” the opening song of ‘Winter Journey,’ “all of Schubert is in the touch of Maria João Pires—an indescribable blend of modesty, simplicity, directness, clarity, closeness, […] the precise weight given to each note, a way of advancing and emphasizing that we intuitively feel is just right in the right places.”
“This sensation is present throughout the concert,” allowing one to “discover notes, counterpoints, subtle combinations, small nuances never heard before,” wrote Forum Opera about the Portuguese pianist’s performance at the Gstaad Festival in Switzerland in August 2023.
This platform evaluates the interpretation of Maria João Pires and Matthias Goerne across the 24 songs of Schubert’s cycle, particularly highlighting the reading by the Portuguese pianist.
Maria João Pires is a celebrated interpreter of Schubert’s works, having been nominated for a Grammy, while Matthias Goerne boasts distinguished recordings of the composer’s song cycles, notably of ‘Winter Journey,’ with pianists such as Alfred Brendel, Graham Johnson, and Christoph Eschenbach.
According to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, ‘Winter Journey’ (‘Winterreise’ in the original) is “an absolute masterpiece in music history and a monument of German culture.”
The 24 songs for voice and piano are based on the poems by Wilhelm Müller, an author Schubert had previously worked with on the cycle ‘The Fair Maid of the Mill’ (‘Die schöne Müllerin’).
The poems sequentially narrate the story of a young man in love who, on a freezing night, confronted with the impossibility of love, must leave behind the summer days and the young woman he loved. He thus embarks on a wandering journey through the long winter night, full of melancholy and introspection, eventually meeting the ‘Hurdy-Gurdy Man,’ a figure representing death in many medieval illustrations.
Ambiguity prevails in Müller’s poems and Schubert’s songs, portraying an endless journey. At the end of the work, the traveler feels anew a sense of connection, asking the beggar: “Strange old man, shall I go with you? Will you accompany my songs with your hurdy-gurdy?”
Schubert began composing ‘Winter Journey’ in February 1827, basing it on the first 12 poems by Wilhelm Müller, who then extended the narrative by another 12. The composer followed the extension, completing the 24 songs in the last quarter of that year.
From this period, marked by the last two years of Schubert’s life, come equally pivotal works in European music history, such as the “Impromptus,” Fantasy D934, the last three piano sonatas, the ‘Great Symphony,’ and the cycle ‘Swan Song.’ Schubert died in November 1828 at the age of 31.
After the performance in Lisbon, Maria João Pires and Matthias Goerne are set to reunite for ‘Winter Journey’ at the end of September in Muziekgebouw, Netherlands.
At the conclusion of their Asian tour in October, Matthias Goerne took to Instagram to express his gratitude: “Thank you, Maria João Pires. Unforgettable!”
