Philip Peters on the Bostridge video of Winterreise:

>It's best experienced with closed eyes ;)

As I brought this version into the discussion I'd like to defend it a
little.  It's set in a disused psychiatric hospital.  Long empty corridors,
huge rooms with light filtering in through dirty, cracked windows, a few
remains of broken furniture, peeling wallpaper.  The conception is an
interior journey into, and perhaps through, mental disturbance.  I nearly
wrote madness, but that might be too strong a word.  It is all in the mind,
and the decaying building is a representation of the singer's internal
state.  It is definitely not seen as a real journey through a physical
landscape, meeting various odd characters etc.  on the way.  I find it
largely successful, with a few scenes failing badly.  But certainly a
valid idea, well worth trying and occasionally very powerful.

As for Bostridge himself:  first, I am a great admirer of his.  Second,
although I do have a few Winterreise recordings in my collection, I
can't remotely claim to match the real experts or to be able to compare
Bostridge's singing and approach to the cycle with others.  I think he
has the ability, as Jonathan Ellis mentioned in regard to his singing of
Britten, to make you forget other interpretations and hear the music fresh
and new.  And, as singers go, he's not a bad actor.

Ian Crisp
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