I'm currently in one of those frenzies that I think all of us get into at one time or another. For the past few weeks I've listened to one piece of music on a daily basis, sometimes to the exclusion of anything else. This time it's Winterreise. This latest obsession started with my September note about Goerne/Brendel's Winterreise, http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0409&L=classical&F=&S=&P=17411 I noted that a BBC Music Magazine review of Goerne/Brendel praised the version by Brigitte Fassbaender, which Robert Peters also enthusiastically recommended. With that as background, I lucked into a copy of the Fassbaender recording at my local Tower. It is just as sensational as Robert said. And it led me to revisit some other Winterreises I have, as well as some that a kind listmember provided. I've been listening to Goerne/Brendel for the consensus new benchmark; Fassbaender/Reimann for the female version and a darkhorse candidate for best performance, if such a decision can or should be made; Fischer-Dieskau/Demus, because F-D *has* to be on a list like this (and playing as I type this); Hans Hotter/Gerald Moore for historical (1955); Christophe Pregardien/Andreas Staier, for tenor and fortepiano; and Peter Schrier and Andras Schiff, tenor and piano. I'm getting so familiar with Winterreise that I can not only anticipate the subsequent songs, but in their correct pitches as well. I really should look into the Winterreise for small chamber orchestra, and I'm soliciting recommendations for versions in other languages, especially English. Anybody? What obsessions have other listmembers succumbed to? Mitch Friedfeld