Leif Ove Andsnes is currently on tour with Matthias Goerne performing Schubert’s epic song cycles in Brussels and Paris. Reviewing their performance of Winterreise in Gstaad earlier this week Le Temps wrote: “The great bass-baritone Matthias Goerne sang the most poignant cycle of the Viennese composer with the pianist Leif Ove Andsnes at the Musical Summits of Gstaad. Outside, a cold rain and winter squalls. Inside, an audience wrapped up under the vaults of the Romanesque church to listen to this sublime music.
” … The voice of the baritone-bass is admirable. It oscillates between velvety textures and harsher tones … The accompaniment of Leif Ove Andsnes is of the first order. The Norwegian pianist does not “subjectivise” the Schubertian discourse; he exposes the melodic plot of each song. The piano is very well coloured, the chords are balanced. We do not find here any desire to appropriate music, but rather a respect for the score … that leaves the music to speak for itself. “Die Krähe” (“The Corneille”) is beautiful: there is a candour in the words “Wunderliches Tier” which suddenly fade into the void. It is these climate breaks, this bitter-sweetness, the fragile balance between hope and despair that make all the richness of the interpretation. A trip without return of which one does not emerge unscathed.”
Source: Le Temps
Author: Julian Sykes