Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Die schöne Müllerin (W. Müller), D.795

At London's Wigmore Hall, Julian Prégardien and Sir András Schiff reveal Schubert’s great song cycle as it once may have sounded. 

After an idea of baritone Florian Boesch and director Nikolaus Habjan, the Musicbanda Franui recomposes Schubert for a staged performance at Berlin's Staatsoper, opening up new perspectives into the interpretation of the well-known song cycle.

Raucous banter, musical virtuosity and a plethora of folk styles in the Alehouse Sessions follow Barokksolistene's intriguing take on Schubert's great song cycle.

Purists look away. Translating Müller’s poetry from its sublime German to work well in English was always going to be a difficult task, but Spence’s infectious enthusiasm carried it off.

Lyric tenor Mauro Peter recently returned to the renowned Schubert festival to sing the demanding song cycle that many consider to be the pinnacle of Lied.

Christoph Prégardien's spacious account of Die Schone Mullerin displayed his characteristically radiant sound and instinctive musicality, but was marred by flaws as the song cycle progressed.

Risks bring rewards as Matthias Goerne and Christoph Eschenbach present Die schöne Müllerin at Carnegie Hall.

It’s never an easy thing to jump in for a concert, especially not when there is a historical instrument involved. The sign on the door of the Wiener Konzerthaus upon our arrival Monday evening, explaining that Vanessa Wagner had to cancel her part as pianist at the last minute and would be replaced by Gérard Wyss, did not bode well.

It is one of those strange – but ultimately fortuitous – ironies of history that a set of poems intended to be a satire of the gloomy, luckless romances that burst forth from Europe in the wake of Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther should itself become the heartbroken romance par excellence.

If I were to create a ‘Top Trumps’-style league table of composers and their music, I would give Franz Schubert full marks in the ‘Beauty’ category. There is something so humane in the music of this tortured young soul, something that touches a wellspring of the emotion, beauty and pain of living and loving.