Schubert's Winter Journey - Anatomy of an Obsession

An exploration of the world s most famous and challenging song cycle, Schubert's Winter Journey (Winterreise), by a leading interpreter of the work who teases out the themes literary, historical, psychological that weave through the twenty-four songs that make up this legendary masterpiece.

Drawing equally on his vast experience performing this work, on his musical knowledge, and on his training as a scholar, Ian Bostridge teases out the enigmas and subtle meanings of each of the twenty-four lyrics to explore for us the world Schubert inhabited, his biography and psychological makeup, the historical and political pressures within which he became one of the world s greatest composers, and the continuing resonances and affinities that our ears still detect today, making Schubert s wanderer our mirror.