Winter Journey

„Winterreise“ von Franz Schubert (1798-1828),

Text von Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827)

In the musicological sense today’s concert is purely romantic. The period of classical music termed “ romantic” at that time is full of deep feelings and moving passion, but also tormented souls and insufferable pain.

The poetry cycle Winter Journey consists of 24 songs, written by the Austrian poet Wilhelm Müller. In 1827, the year of Wilhelm Müller’s death, Franz Schubert discovered the cycle and set it to music.

Although Wilhelm Müller had never heard about the musical interpretation of his poems and he had never met Franz Schubert, they understood each other. Both were masters in phrasing highly politicized, socio-critical statements between the lines and the melodies. This can only be explained by a short digression into the historical context of their lifetimes.

The French Revolution and consequently Napoleon were idolized inspirations for modern society and civil rights. After Napoleon was defeated, the time of restauration followed. Scepticism against the new liberties prevailed and led to reactionary regimes throughout Europe. At the Congress of Vienna Prince Metternich outlined a hard and restrictive course as regarded domestic policy. He installed a sophisticated network of informers. No one could be sure not to be sounded out and not to be reported to the police. Even in Schubert’s circles house searches and arrests were the order of the day and consequently the only remaining option was to flee into one’s inner exile as expressed in the Winter Journey. Thus the texts can be interpreted politically as hidden opposition against Metternich’s restauration. As an example the crow in the poem bearing the same title can be taken as Metternich’s spy, the rulers are the masters and the subjects are the dogs. One can also detect the feeling of foreignness , of being lost and that of revolt in these texts.

Franz Schubert introduced his compositions to his friends with the following words: “ I am going to sing a cycle of gruesome songs to you. I am looking forward to hearing your opinion about it. They have affected me much more than my other works. I like these songs more than all the other ones and you are going to like them , too. “

In this conception of the Winter Journey the violoncello will take on the part to “sing” Schubert’s songs with the piano. So, you come to hear absolute music, which in the interpretation of the two musicians has a more distressing and a more powerful effect through its rising intensity. While at the beginning of the song cycle despair and grief alternate with joy, at its end hopelessness prevails. It is an enormously sad music, which in the present time of war has a deeply emotional appeal going straight to the heart. The two musicians want their music to be interpreted as a homage to the poet and to the composer.

Birgit Erichson, Cello

Darina Gibson, Piano

After graduating from high school Birgit Erichson started to study the cello at the Musikhochschule in Köln. Thanks to a DAAD scholarship she was able to continue her studies with Professor Janos Starker at the Indiana University in Bloomington, USA. Next she took her final concert exam with Professor Klaus Storck at the Musikhochschule in Hanover and continued attending master classes under Professor Janos Starker. As a member of the internationally known Abbeg Trio since 1976, she has been giving concerts and teaching master classes in the USA, South America ( 6 tours ) , South Korea, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Canada ( 3 tours ), Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, South East Asia ( 2 tours ), Central Asia and China. In the meantime she has released with the Abegg Trio more than 30 CDs , which have all been highly praised by critics. She played in the chamber orchestra “Collegium Aureum” for years and tought 15 years “Chamber Music” at the Franz Liszt Musikhochschule in Weimar. Since 2014 she teaches as a Professor at the University of Münster “Chamber Music”. She has received many prizes and rewards for playing solo and with the Abegg Trio : First Prize :Solo -from Gedok Berlin in 1978; with the Abegg Trio: Colmar 1977, Geneva 1977, Bonn 1979, Gold Medal Bordeaux 1981, Bernhard Sprengel Prize for Music Hanover 1986, Robert Schumann Prize Zwickau 1992, five times: Prize of German “Record Critics”, First Prize: Spring Festival Pyönyang North Korea, 2004. She recorded Brahms’s Clarinet Trio with solo musicians from Weimar for the MDR tv station. She can be often heard playing duo or trio on all the German and on many European radio stations. Her new Shostakovich / Obst Trio CD was released in 2009 and was highly prised by critics. In 2010 she recorded a new Haydn CD with the Abegg Trio in the White Hall of Castle of Weimar. In September 2011 she went on a two-week long concert tour in China with the Abegg TrioGiving master classes as well. ( Peking, Shanghai, Ghuanzou etc. ) In 2018 she performed the “Winterreise” of Schubert with a pianist and a speaker in 2 concerts and 4 concerts with the Abegg Trio in Saudi Arabia. She plays a cello made by Andrea Castagneri in Turin in 1747.

Darina Gibson studied in Dublin and Manchester where she graduated with the highest award, the Dayas gold medal, and won a Chopin Fellowship to study in Warsaw.She was a lecturer in the keyboard department of the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, and also held positions in the Cork School of Music and the RIAM.She has given masterclasses in Dublin, Cork and Donegal, and has performed as a soloist, an accompanist and a chamber music player.She regularly attends the Oxford International piano festival.