Allan Clayton and Aurora take Hans Zender’s composed interpretation of Schubert’s Winterreise to Saffron Walden.
Schubert’s epic pilgrimage of the soul conveyed through 24 exquisite songs with piano accompaniment is the pinnacle of the German Lieder tradition, but there’s more than one way to scale this peak. In Zender’s ‘composed interpretation’ for small ensemble and singer Schubert’s original remains largely intact, but Zender plays with speeds, repetitions and overlaps, and colours it with unconventional sonorities including guitar, accordion and a baleful saxophone.
This is a masterpiece refracted in a dark mirror, an original embellished by a master craftsman. It is as if Schubert’s journeying everyman has been reclothed in the music of the ensuing two centuries. Allan Clayton, one of this country’s most thrilling singing talents, is the journeying soloist.