Concert review by Silvia Thurner in the online edition of the Zeitschrift für Kultur und Gesellschaft, February 5th 2023.
Mezzo-soprano Isabel Pfefferkorn and pianist Hanna Bachmann have, in recent years, devoted themselves to a very special project: a joint interpretation of Schubert’s Winterreise (D 911) approached from an individual and strikingly personal angle. They presented the famous song cycle in dialogue with a light installation by Fabian Tobias Reiner, and additionally offered the Austrian premiere of Pfefferkorn’s own composition Wüstenschrei. The two artists captivated the numerous listeners, drawing their attention to finely shaded musical and emotional states.
Mezzo-soprano Isabel Pfefferkorn and pianist Hanna Bachmann presented Schubert’s Winterreise in the atmospheric setting of the Röthis Schlössle.
For many music lovers, Schubert’s Winterreise is closely tied to a male protagonist. The text and vocal expressivity certainly support such a reading. Yet the philosophical and musical framework of the cycle allows for multiple perspectives. Isabel Pfefferkorn and Hanna Bachmann’s interpretation opened unusual vantage points, making the evening both thought-provoking and refreshing.
Rather than telling the story of the lovelorn wanderer, Isabel Pfefferkorn and Hanna Bachmann highlighted emotional snapshots through carefully crafted musical images. With meticulous attention to textual nuance and the gradual alienation of the lyrical self, they shaped each song with striking sensitivity. Shifts of mood were brought to life through dynamic shading and pronounced tempo fluctuations, lending songs such as Gefrorne Tränen, Wasserflut, Irrlicht, Rast, and above all Frühlingstraum highly distinctive expressive characters. Particularly noteworthy was their interpretation of Der greise Kopf. In Das Wirtshaus they revealed finely balanced layers between dream and reality, while Nebensonnen and Der Leiermann provided a convincing and powerful close.
The slower songs showcased Pfefferkorn’s nuanced phrasing and the rich timbre of her voice. In quicker passages, however, textual clarity and articulation occasionally suffered, sounding less precisely shaped. Hanna Bachmann played was very present, always attentive to the singer. The piano part unfolded with vivid harmonic colours, illuminating the many metaphorical layers that Schubert embedded in his score.
A New Work and the Addition of Light
Naturally, Winterreise requires no additions. Yet as a prelude to the song cycle, Hanna Bachmann and Isabel Pfefferkorn presented Wüstenschrei, a poetic vocal work composed by Pfefferkorn. Setting Christian Friedrich Hebbel’s text Der Baum in der Wüste, she drew on motivic echoes of Schubert’s cycle as well as modal harmonic layers. Fabian Tobias Reiner’s accompanying light installation created a subtle atmosphere with an abstracted tree motif. Less effective was a cold white garland, which illuminated much of Winterreise somewhat harshly. By contrast, three balloons used to underscore Nebensonnen offered a poignant and imaginative touch.