Matthias Goerne Sings Winterreise

I was worried about hearing baritone Matthias Goerne perform Winterreise in Davies Hall, but his dark, velvety voice went out into the hall nicely & was surprisingly ringing. His singing displayed variety & immense control & felt well thought out. His voice was turbulent in Erstarrung & seemed to swirl in Wasserflut. He made a big, climactic sound in Einsamkeit, & Der stürmische Morgen was both bold & lilting. Though Mr.Goerne takes gasping breaths, he somehow always maintains an unbroken line. I like the way surfs up to his high notes, which sound taut but not strained. He gets into his sound, & he often lingered & stretched out the tempos, especially toward the end of the cycle. Christoph Eschenbach's accompaniment was pointed. Notes often stuck out, & he sometimes did not release the pedal cleanly.

A melodic cell phone rang twice during Erstarrung, & I heard a watch alarm go off during Die Krähe. 2 patrons seated in the terrace walked out during Letzte Hoffnung. Mr. Goerne sang for about 80 minutes, & the audience gave him a standing ovation and recalled him & Mr. Eschenbach to the stage several times. My concert companion unaccountably kept hoping to hear "I Could Have Danced All Night" as an encore.

Mr. Goerne signed CDs in the lobby afterward. I saw many of my favorite music fans & bloggers, some of them for the 2nd time that weekend. There was much discussion of Mr. Goerne's technique. A native German speaker testified that he read the text like the rest of us, because Mr. Goerne's pronunciation was so slurred.

§ Matthias Goerne and Christoph Eschenbach
The San Francisco Symphony Presents Great Performers

Matthias Goerne, baritone
Christoph Eschenbach, piano

Schubert
Winterreise

Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 7:00pm
Davies Symphony Hall