The Stormy Liederabend

In the course of a given year, one may see performances that are inspired, moving, passionate, lyrical, compelling or dramatic; however, there are few that can be described as genuinely heroic. Christian Gerhaher’s recent performance of Schubert’s Winterreise at Berlin’s Kammermusiksaal was undoubtedly an exception. Those of a romantic disposition might hold that Winterreise can only be performed by a singer who has experienced the pain of Wilhelm Müller’s anguished narrator; and by the end of a magical reading of ‘Der Lindenbaum’, the cycle’s fifth song, Herr Gerhaher leaned toward the piano with a look of intense suffering, as if he had imagined himself a little too clearly into the mind of the wandering poet. Alas, the pain was very real: two songs later, Herr Gerhaher was forced to leave the stage, followed closely by his…