City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney
January 7, 2016

Collaborations, fusion, mixed media, old wine in new bottles. Such is the life blood and raison d’être of the international festival and when it goes right it is a unique opportunity for audiences to immerse themselves in something unrepeatable and rather special. Such is the case with this bold take on Schubert’s bleakest song cycle, Winterreise, as performed by German bass-baritone Matthias Goerne and pianist Markus Hinterhaüser against a vivid and hypnotic filmic backdrop courtesy of South African artist and director William Kentridge.

With three recordings of the cycle under his belt over 20 years, Goerne is among the most respected Schubertians in the business and his extraordinary performance is worth the price of admission alone. Possessed of an ideally dark instrument for this supremely introspective and mournful work, he is able to switch from a warm lyricism to a Wotan-like bluster with no apparent effort. His tone flows over you like warm molasses, descending into a rich sepulchral bottom register, yet able to scale back and float the top while retaining a vital steely core to the voice. Hinterhaüser is a most sensitive partner, adding considerable pianistic colour to song after...