Winterreise

This recital by Joyce DiDonato, mezzo, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, piano, of Schubert's Die Winterreise has a gimmick.  This is a long letter from her beloved which she reads as she sings.  This overcomes the masculine oriented text and allows her to read the text.  Interesting.  It also allows her to dramatize more than normally is done in a recital.  She begins seated and stands later on.  I think Joyce enjoys Lieder as theater.  Why not?

She is performing with the lid all the way up on the piano, something that doesn't often happen in a piano vocal recital.  This may be the explanation for my experience of poor balance between voice and piano.

I love this cycle and enjoyed Joyce singing it.  It won't pull me away from Jonas Kaufmann's version.