IAN BOSTRIDGE is universally recognized as one of the greatest Lieder interpreters of our era. In addition to his numerous award-winning recordings of opera and song, he was the original Caliban in Thomas Adès’s The Tempest, and he played Gustav von Aschenbach in English National Opera’s landmark 2007 production of Death in Venice. A D. Phil of Oxford University for his work on the significance of witchcraft in English public life from 1650 to 1750, he lives in London with his wife, the writer and critic Lucasta Miller, and their two children.
International Praise for Schubert's Winter Journey
“Enthralling. . . . With Schubert’s Winter Journey: Anatomy of an
Obsession, Ian Bostridge proves to be one of the most impressive
writers among musical performers, as erudite and vivid as he is
entertaining. . . . Ian Bostridge’s book is brilliant and unique.
After reading it, we may listen differently to this supreme work of
art, one that, despite being tainted by death, makes life worth
living.” —Alfred Brendel, The New York Review of Books
“Exquisite. . . . The tenor and, it transpires, fine writer Ian
Bostridge is a great guide to the mysterious winter-scape and
supreme symbiosis of word and music, the marrying and tussling of
piano and vocal lines, which Schubert took to hitherto unimaginable
musical and emotional planes. Bostridge's engaging mélange of
memoir, cultural history, close musical reading, glimpses of
biography and wide-reaching examples of the ripple effect of
Winterreise's influence on writers, composers, historians, and
thinkers ever since – including Beckett, Benjamin Britten, Djuna
Barnes, Paul Auster, Thomas Mann, and Slavoj iek – makes a strong
case for Winterreise being as deserving of a place in our common
experience ‘as the poetry of Shakespeare and Dante, the paintings
of Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso, the novels of the Brontë sisters or
Marcel Proust.’” —Rebecca K. Morrison, The Independent (UK)
“Tantalizing. . . . Bostridge’s language is often youthful and hip.
. . . In this hyper-intensive book, the great surprise comes near
the end, with his concise explanation of the inscrutable poem “Die
Nebensonnen.” It’s not to be spoiled here, but it’s Bostridge’s
final triumph. . . It’s easy to imagine stunned young acolytes
carrying [Schubert’s Winter Journey] around the way they used to
carry around Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther.” —William R. Braun,
Opera News
"Ian Bostridge, one of Britain’s foremost tenors, has performed
“Winterreise” more than 100 times. He knows every last nuance of
the work and has given it a great deal of thought. His beautifully
produced book offers many new insights that will inform the
enjoyment of both old admirers and newcomers to the music. . . . Mr
Bostridge is a good storyteller and keeps the reader in constant
suspense. . . . Mr Bostridge has an acute understanding of the
historical context of the time and how it may have influenced
Schubert’s reading of the poems." —The Economist
“Illuminating.”—The New Yorker
"Wouldn't it be great if we nonexpert folks could get experts to
give us guided tours of great music in humane, rather than
technical, terms? That is what we have in Schubert's Winter
Journey by Ian Bostridge. He is a well-known tenor/writer, and
Franz Schubert's Winterreise, or Winter
Journey (composed 1827-1828) is among his favorite works.
After you read this book, it might become one of yours, too." —John
Timpane, The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Much of Bostridge’s exploration comes from a performer’s
perspective: cogent explanations of the niceties of musical
notation and interpretation, close readings of the text. . . . But
the book also approaches from myriad scholarly and historical
angles, vectors Bostridge—who trained as a historian—chooses with
judicious flair. . . . Bostridge’s curiosity enriches the book and
the music." —Matthew Guerrieri, The Boston Globe
"Schubert’s Winter Journey is an unusual and compelling book:
Omnivorous and digressive, it captures the enduring mystery of this
seminal work in the lieder tradition. Readers who love
“Winterreise” will find the book a rare treat, and those who do not
yet know the piece have here a fine companion as they listen. . . .
Mr. Bostridge’s mastery of the music and the text is evident
throughout." —Michael O’Donnell, The Wall Street Journal
“Elegant . . . both deepens and contextualizes this emotionally
somber masterpiece, the ideal music for darkest February.” —Michael
Dirda, Washington Post
“A magnificent study of one of the most influential and
simultaneously mysterious musical works of the Romantic period. And
there’s no one better to crack it open than Bostridge, who knows
its wormholes better than anyone.” —The Daily Beast
“Bostridge brings the knowledge of an expert but none of their
jargon to this unexpected book that treats each song in this
inscrutable cycle as an object in a cabinet of curiosities — to be
handled and enjoyed as well as theorised….Though it roams far,
Schubert’s Winter Journey never loses sight of the music that is
its source. To finish the book is to come full circle; just as
Schubert’s narrator finds himself beginning his songs all over
again, to the sinister accompaniment of the hurdy-gurdy man, so the
reader finds himself drawn back to CD and concert hall to attempt
this elusive and allusive winter journey one more time.” —Alexandra
Coghlan, The Spectator (UK)
“Schubert’s Winter Journey provides a fascinating insight not just
into the song cycle and the mindset of its composer but also that
of a leading interpreter.” —Hannah Nepil, Financial Times (UK)
“Winterreise, Bostridge argues, is ‘a message in a bottle set
afloat in the cultural ocean of 1828’ and, with the confidence of a
master oarsman, Bostridge sails these waters with awesome
virtuosity.” —Neil Fisher, The Times (UK)
“Bostridge encourages us to experience the work as though we were
eavesdropping on a performer's own dilemmas. . . . Like the cycle
itself, the study is a heady, circling journey of cross-reference,
association and allusion.” —Hilary Finch, BBC Music Magazine (Music
Books Choice)
“In the book, he inhabits not only the work, but the man. And—his
most important achievement in writing it—it sends you scurrying
back to the music.” —Dan Cairns, Sunday Times (UK)
“Bostridge’s highly enjoyable book provides a rewarding,
intelligently written companion to the piece for those who know it
well, as well as for those who are approaching it for the first
time. . . . This wide-ranging book is a fine tribute to his
devotion to Schubert’s masterpiece.” —Nick Rennison, Sunday Times
(UK)
“The songs are discussed in a series of insightful and gracefully
written chapters, each drawing on a vast range of learning in
cultural and social history, musicology and psychoanalysis.” —Ivan
Hewett, Daily Telegraph (UK)
“An impressive success: a long-gestated, intensely enjoyable
study.” —Rupert Christiansen, Literary Review (UK)
“A wonderful new book.” —Andrew Marr, Radio 4
“Where Bostridge excels is in taking the limpid, surface-simple
texts and unpacking he vast amount of reference, allusion, context
and ambiguity in them. . . . Bostridge leaves the reader (and
listener) enchanted, and no amount of interpretation can outweigh
hearing this work again with refreshed ears. Having long admired
Bostridge as a singer, I now look forward to following his parallel
career as an eloquent and enlightening writer on music.” —Stuart
Kelly, Scotsman
“As one of our greatest exponents of German song, lieder,
[Bostridge] brings to this book an insight which must elude most
other scholars. . . . What makes his approach so especially
appealing is his love of Winterreise and his openness to its
possibilities.” —Alan Taylor, The Herald (Glasgow)
“Illuminating and comprehensive. . . . rich, highly readable.”
—Kirkus
“Bostridge’s illuminating reflections will guide readers as they
listen again, or for the first time, to the nuances of Schubert’s
great work.” —Publisher’s Weekly
“Usually great singers cannot explain what they do. Ian Bostridge
can. Whether or not you know Schubert’s Winter Journey, the book is
gripping because it explains, in probing, simple words, how doomed
love is transformed into art.” —Richard Sennett
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