Die Winterreise, Brucknerhaus Linz 13.2.2008

Oberösterreichische Nachrichten

Adrian Eröd, currently a member of the Vienna State Opera, provided an impressive interpretation of Schubert’s „Winterreise“ at the Brucknerhaus in Linz. Brilliantly accompanied by Eduard Kutrowatz at the piano, he demonstrated all the facets of the song cycle.

The 24 songs resemble a diary and merge into a psychodrama of solitude, marked by deprivation of love up to the bitter end, sinister and fantastic. The visually expressive music demands the whole art of singer and actor.

Eröd’s voice masters all stages on the peregrination of the inominate with exemplary diction and fine undertones. It is full of sound, abundant, vivid, touching with uncanny intensity and expression. The artist changes abruptly between nuances, between major and minor. The popular phrases never become superficial and there is a fine play of expression and glances. The performance precisely caught the shady side of life without loss of tension.

The pianist, an equal partner, creates a finely balanced sound spectrum and makes the piano sound like an orchestra.

To summarize: The performance, 70 uninterrupted minutes, provided a great representation of the innermost sensitivity of a human being. The evening was a physical and mental tour de force. Thundering applause.