Matthias Goerne / Piotr Anderszewski

Description

No other composer set the themes of love and seduction to music in such a nuanced manner and with such incredible intensity as Franz Schubert. Whether this is a reflection of his own (mainly unfulfilled) love life or simply of the time in which he lived – when only death was considered able to bring fulfilment and deliverance from temptation and desire – is irrelevant. What matters is that Schubert managed to convey every emotional state in the compact form of his Lieder, and expanded them into soundscapes in his three major song cycles. They include the journeyman miller who falls for the beautiful miller´s daughter, »Die schöne Müllerin«, and despairs over his unrequited love; the broken-hearted wanderer who longs for death and embarks on a »Winterreise« (Winter Journey); and the »Schwanengesang« (Swan Song) that was composed by Schubert shortly before his death. During his lifetime, his Lieder were performed at informal private gatherings called »Schubertiades« – a format to which the Hamburg International Music Festival pays tribute with these concerts. Matthias Goerne is the perfect choice to present the three great Schubert cycles on three separate evenings in the Laeiszhalle. As the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper recently noted, »Matthias Goerne occupies a singular position with his interpretations of Schubert. Goerne sings Schubert in such a way that one has no choice but to follow him into those distant realms where romantic intuition rules.« Matthias Goerne is currently working on a series of twelve Schubert CDs, the first of which have already been released. In these recordings he is accompanied by different pianists – just as at his guest performances during the Music Festival. In Hamburg his partners are Christoph Eschenbach, the former chief conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra, and the acclaimed Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski, who also has many local fans. Goerne is in no doubt as to the contemporary relevance of his undertaking: »In Schubert you find the essence of man in his entirety, in every aspect and with every desire, fear and flaw. Schubert is infinite. Infinitely profound.«