Winterreise – Tristan Bates Theatre, London

Baritone and Director: Thomas Guthrie

Pianist: David Owen Norris

Reviewer: Jeffrey Mayhew

The Public Reviews Rating:

Schubert’s brilliant and original song cycle achieved its final form in 1828 so, apart from Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte of 1816, was a very early example of the genre. The 24 songs are settings of Wilhelm Mϋller, originally for tenor but from the outset sung in other registers. It was Schubert’s friend, Johann Vogel the baritone, who pioneered the work and it was first heard in its entirety in the domestic setting of Schubert’s lodgings. It is a bleak, heavily Romantic work and could well reflect Schubert’s own failing health and fears for the future as well as the prevailing artistic conventions of the young Romantics.

Tonight’s concert was a full rendition of the cycle. In a small and intimate auditorium the baritone Thomas Guthrie was accompanied on a period piano by David Owen Norris and guitarist Sam Cave. With the lighter, more delicate sound of the early piano and the warmth and smaller scale of the guitar one of the most striking things about the occasion was how much it must have mirrored the original performance conditions and there was, if you shut your eyes, a real sense of going back in time. Even if you opened them a glance revealed a startling resemblance between Mr Norris and Schubert… but Johann Vogel would not have been manipulating a puppet. Atmospherically lit and with the text helpfully projected, silent cinema style, against sparse but effective illustrations, the concert was very much a theatrical performance.

The night’s performance centred round a young, Romantic puppet, a touch Wuthering Heights, Bunraku in style, who enacted the pieces. It is difficult to separate out the strands under those slightly surprising circumstances so the music first. This was truly excellent throughout. Thomas Guthrie has a warm and seductive voice with a beautiful vuoto and some real metal when required. The playing of Mr Norris was beyond reproach, a concert in itself, and, on that transparent instrument, a real voyage of re-discovery of a familiar piece. The piano in Winterreise is a true power in itself, no mere accompaniment, and it could not have been better served. The occasional and strategic use of the guitar gave textural and artistic colour and variation and helped to enhance the salon-like atmosphere of the evening. This was particularly effective in the opening Good Night and even more so in the final Organ Grinder (or Hurdy-Gurdy). So for lovers of the piece or for those to whom it is new, a highly recommended concert.

There is, of course, a question mark over the puppet. The question being, “Why?” I am not sure we got a full answer but it must first be said that it was very well done indeed. Especially as Mr Guthrie has quite a job on doing the singing. You did sometimes think he had too much to do even though he was doing it all very well. You needed to shut your eyes for a rest occasionally, out of sympathy. And who was the puppet? The poet? The singer? Was the singer talking to or through the puppet? Was the puppet talking to the singer… In extreme moments of passion there was a touch of Steven Berkoff about Mr Guthrie so theatrical did it become. So that’s a matter of taste really. I found it, mostly, very interesting and entertaining only regretting the puppet’s presence when the odd note seemed to lack preparation because of it.

A different and highly enjoyable evening then, thoroughly recommended. A great concert and, if the context raises a few eyebrows there’s no harm in that. To be seen and heard!

Runs until 17th Dec