Soprano and pianist Rachel Fenlon has released her stunning new recording of Schubert’s Winterreise on Orchid Classics on 11 October.
Fenlon, who accompanies herself on piano, began studying Winterreise during the pandemic winter 2020 whilst living alone near a forest outside of Berlin. She often went days or weeks without seeing anyone. The work resonated deeply with her feelings of loneliness and solitude, and over two years she meticulously learned the piece, often reflecting on the text while walking in the forest to connect with the music.
In summer 2022, Fenlon performed Winterreise for the first time in Berlin and continued throughout the festival season, the profound connection she felt with the work solidifying her decision to record it.
She says, “I have never found, nor lost myself so much in a work as I have in Winterreise. To share my interpretation of this great work, and to add to the enormous canon of recordings, from the perspective of a singer sitting at the piano and accompanying myself, is the greatest gift I could ask for.”
