Franz Schubert's lieder are among the most celebrated examples of the genre, where text and music are given equally prominent footing. One of his foremost works in the form is the song cycle, Winterreise, which has been given a new expressive dimension in Deborah Warner, tenor Ian Bostridge, and pianist Julius Drake's staged performance of the chilling song cycle.
Using verse by poet Wilhelm Müller, the 24-piece cycle details the anguish of a young man who walks into a wintery forest after seeing his beloved marry another. Bostridge, more than just a singer, is a Schubert scholar. He has performed Winterreise more than a hundred times, and his familiarity with the work has resulted in the 2015 book, Schubert's Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession. Drake is an internationally-renowned pianist, and has performed the cycle with numerous artists, including Bostridge.
Their production, premiering in early June, remains faithful to Schubert's intentions, and presents Bostridge wandering in a dark forest. It was not limited by the restraints of historical lied performances, or even of recitals, however: Bostridge acts and moves around freely, amid Justin Nardella's chalked-on wall design and Jean Kalman's lighting that are just enough to suggest the setting without getting in the way. All of this happens before a small audience, at Ustinov Studio's intimate space, which is also a reflection of their desire to honor "Schubert's original intention for the piece to be sung to an intimate gathering."
Other staged productions of Schubert's Winterreise have been mounted before, although some were criticized for "[leaving] Schubert out." Considering its performers' familiarity with the work, the Ustinov production promises to make no such mistake.
The production opens Warner's final season at Ustinov. During her three-year tenure, she has synthesized opera, dance, and song.
After its first run, Warner, Bostridge and Drake bring back Winterreise in September.
