Gerald Finley (barytone) and Julius Drake (piano): Winterreise. Bruxelles, Theatre de Monnaie. June 20th 2012.
Gerald Finley´s Winterreise is truly an emotional journey. Passing from an initial state of repressed anger to to true anger, then to madness and ultimately we see the naked grief. I don´t remember when I have heard a Winterreise with these changes of emotion presented so contrastingly as Gerald Finley does. And always without sentimentality, he started many of the songs half-turned away from the audience. However, as a performer he is far from introvert and oozes a patrician elegance which suits Schubert so well.
The voice, of course I´d almost say, is superb and fully capable of displaying every emotional state Finley desires to display.
All sensitively and dynamically accompanied by long-time recital partner Julius Drake, Winterreise do not get delivered much better than this. Lieder singing at the highest level.
Overall impression (scale of 1-5, 3=average):
5
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