Search - Schubert, Michael Racuheisen :: Hans Hotter Sings Schubert Winterreise

The Indispensable "Winterreise"

Leonard Fox | Charleston, SC USA | 05/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Schubert's "Winterreise" has undoubtedly been one of the most recorded song cycles since the advent of recording equipment. Although there are a number of fine performances of this extraordinary work (including several others by Hans Hotter, and a darkly beautiful one by Josef Greindl), the Hotter interpretation recorded in November of 1942 is truly exceptional. It grips the listener completely from start to finish with a directness and a profundity of emotion that cannot be described in words, but must be experienced. The tragic shadows that pervade this group of songs (mirrored in the fact that Schubert corrected the proofs on his deathbed) are given substance in Hotter's performance and are communicated to the listener so effectively that one truly becomes a participant in this horrific winter journey."

Perhaps the Most Moving Winterreise.

Ralph J. Steinberg | New York, NY United States | 01/02/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This being winter, this is the perfect time to dim the lights and listen to the greatest Lieder cycle ever written. And if I were to pick one performance that mirrors to perfection all the varied moods of this ultimately tragic vision of a lonely, alienated young man, the Hotter would take first prize. This is the earliest and vocally freshest version recorded by Hotter, and since it does not defer to any other in its musicality or dramatic insight, this is the one to get. It is incredible that such a huge voice can be scaled down to the most intimate proportions, but that was one of Hotter's great gifts, noticable in opera as well as Lieder. Hotter certainly shows his greatness as a musician who happens to be a singer, the kind of musicality that includes people like Furtwangler and Schnabel. Well, tomorrow evening, I will put on this recording and listen all the way through. ("Nun ist die Welt so truebe, der Weg gehuellt im Schnee...")"

A Fabulous and Wonderful Recording...

aleibo31 | Dobbs Ferry, NY USA | 08/29/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a beautiful and deeply felt Winterreise. Hotter has the perfect voice for this music; deep, rich and above all stately and passionate. He possess a voice that is big but yet remarkably flexable and agile. He brings a tremendous understanding to the work and does not try to bring his own interpretation to the work, rather he sings it as Schubert wrote it, in all of its passion and sense of lass and gain. Granted the recording is not up to the modern standard, but for its time it is fantastic. This is an indespensable recording of Winterreise by an artist of huge talent."