Schubert: Die Winterreise

Rating:
Summary: Slow on the uptake but in the end a beautiful DVD
Review: I have owned this dvd for many years. I didn't like it at first found the images beautiful but fussy. I don't mind the Shubert being sung by a woman. And in fact Fassbender's singing is great.

I gradually warmed to the CD over the period I've owned and and now I welcome an opportunity to play it.

The images that accompany the music, carry many stories with them not just one and they are related to the music, just not in an obvious way.

Buy this DVD and let the whole seep in over the course of years ... it's worth it.

Rating:
Summary: It's not exactly Schubert, but it's still interesting.
Review: If you are expecting 1.) a filmed recital program of Winterreise or 2.) a literal filming of the Winterreise "plot line," then you may be disappointed. In the case of #1, just the fact that it is a mezzo rather than a male voice singing may strike you as really unusual. And as for #2, with a woman doing the singing, it becomes impossible to film it as if the singer is the protagonist since the protagonist of the story is so obviously male.

If, however, you are willing to accept this film as a thing unto itself, it works just fine. Some of the imagery is beautiful (and the locations always are, as can be expected of any film shot in and near Prague). What I found slightly annoying was that it was unwilling to be literal or to be entirely a free flight of imagination. Whenever it veered in one of those directions, it would immediately bounce back. I would have preferred it to go in either direction, but it always wanted to return to some safe middle ground.

Yes, it is interesting, but I would recommend renting it before purchasing it. If your primary interest is musical (as I admit mine was since I have performed this song-cycle), then renting the film and buying a CD would be ideal. If you either don't know Winterreise or are looking to experience it in a totally new way, then by all means watch this. As long as you are looking for "interesting" rather than "greatness," you will enjoy it just fine.

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: Petr Weigl's attempt to film Winterreisse is a disappointment. He tells a story via pantomime that has nothing to do with the words of the song cycle. Briefly, it's about a woman trying to decide between two men: her husband and her lover. Beautifully filmed, of course, but one has to forget the meanings of the songs to appreciate it. And why is Brigitte Fassbaender dressed in nun's habit? Is she supposed to be the woman in the story 50 years later? Furthermore, I don't feel that this is a woman's role; it's about a man's unfortuante love-life after all, and it should be sung by a tenor as Schubert intended (a bass or a baritone is too dark for such bleak songs). If Weigl didn't want to do a literal interpretation, he could have used something other than pantomime; perhaps a series of still shots such as the Burns brothers do for their documentaries. Anyone buying this work for the first time would be better off with a good performance on CD and letting the imagination supply the images.