Winter Journey: Schubert's 'Winterreise'

2022 BBC Four / SRF

Franz Schubert’s masterpiece, his song cycle Winterreise (‘Winter Journey’), was written shortly before his death in 1828 at the age of only 31. In this beautiful film, the baritone Benjamin Appl and pianist James Baillieu reimagine Schubert’s songs of lost love, loneliness and longing by performing them in the wintry landscape of the Julier Pass in south-east Switzerland.

Set in and around a breathtaking wooden tower recently built at the 2,300-metre summit of the pass, the performance demonstrates how Schubert’s music, which so bewildered his companions, speaks powerfully to us today. In his winter journey, the singer wanders as a refugee in harsh terrain, wracked with conflicting emotions, but consoled by his memories of kinder times – a vivid reminder of the emotional anguish that can touch every generation, whether from personal rejection, or from exile enforced by political, cultural or military pressures.

The five storeys of the vividly red Julier Tower stand as a futuristic sentinel in the ancient Alpine landscape – and offer the singer both refuge and rejection. This time-machine-like structure chimes in with the timelessness of Schubert’s music. Benjamin Appl sings in the enchanting spaces inside the tower, which has now been demolished, as planning permission had expired. But he also sings outside in the wild.

FILM CREDITS

Director of Photography	Jonathan Partridge
Additional Photography	Ben Crossley
Grip	Taffy Oyewusi
Gaffer	Alex Cullen
Electrician	Roman Brändli
Sound	Patrick Boland
Piano Technician	Urs Bachmann
Dubbing Editor	Jonathan Allen
Location Producer	Joseph Fell
Production Manager	Elizabeth Norris
Film Editor	Colin Napthine
Finishing Editor	Paul Ingvarsson
Dubbing Mixer	David Ingram
Produced and directed by	John Bridcut

1 x 90'

With thanks to Sir Simon Robey, Vernon Ellis Foundation, True Lens Services, Giovanni Netzer, Nova Fundaziun Origen

The film has been part-funded by the BBC, SRF (Switzerland) and Marquee TV. It is available on BBC iPlayer, and also on Marquee TV in the UK, North America and Australasia.

REVIEWS

'John Bridcut's ravishing new film [...] is a feast for the eyes, partly because of the considerable amounts of snow (which started to fall minutes before filming began). But the visual treats are also down to Bridcut’s director [of photography] who seizes every opportunity presented to him. Baritone Benjamin Appl is made for TV [...] his visual communication is unnervingly direct, with breathtaking shifts in storytelling effortlessly conveyed in facial expressions alone. Add into the mix his stunning vocal qualities, boyish looks and dry wit, and in an instant the song cycle is transported into something present day, relevant and unexpectedly urgent.

'Pianist James Baillieu – the other half of this powerfully expressive duo – occupies the theatrical interior of Julier Tower with style and weight. Appl uses the space around to great effect looking inward and outward in a production that is dripping with metaphors.

'In Winter Journey, Bridcut, his team, Appl and Baillieu have created something for TV that has a sense of ‘live’, something that escaped much of the digital output many musicians and their management struggled to get a handle on during the pandemic.

'TV is hard. It’s the most brutal kind of storytelling that demands considerable knowledge and expertise, not to mention time and money. There was precious little of any of that available on this project, filmed in multiple takes inside and outside (the sound engineering is a thing of beauty) as it was up a snowy mountain in only three days, in the second year of the pandemic. That it happened at all is impressive. That it is so compelling a watch is down to the cast in front of and behind the camera.'

Jon Jacob, Thoroughly Good Classical Music Podcast

'Film-maker John Bridcut's name on a programme is a guarantee of quality and there can have been few more vivid evocations of Schubert's Winterreise than this.'

Patrick Mulkern, Radio Times

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