麻豆约拍

Michael Volle is a baritone singer who has made his name with magisterial operatic performances, particularly Wagner. Helmut Deutsch has been playing the piano alongside the great and the good of the classical world for five decades, including the soprano Ileana Cotrubas and the tenor Jonas Kaufmann.

Performing the 24-song cycle that Franz Schubert wrote at the end of his short life, Die Winterreise, or the Winter鈥檚 Journey, is considered the pinnacle of the recital repertoire, even for such accomplished musicians. The trust between singer and pianist must be absolute, because the two performers are, in Volle鈥檚 words, 鈥渘aked and pure on stage鈥�. Deutsch and Volle have a 20-year friendship and working partnership to build on, a musical connection that brings them together to perform this 鈥渟ummit鈥� of singing over and over again.

Yet their next performance will be something out of the ordinary. They are undertaking a staged performance at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, in Barcelona. The musicians will be joined by actresses on the stage, photographs accompanying the music, and newly developed poems interspersed between songs. How will the staging affect the relationship between singer and pianist, and how will it impact the music? Writer and journalist Llu铆s Amiguet joins rehearsals in Barcelona to find out.

Image: Helmut Deutsch (Credit: Kartal Karagedik) and Michael Volle (Credit: David Ruano)