The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Fortepianist Trevor Stephenson and baritone Joshua Copeland perform and record Franz Schubert’s epic song cycle “Winterreise” TONIGHT at 7 p.m. in Sauk City.

By Jacob Stockinger

Our good friend and fine musician Trevor Stephenson, the ever-busy founder and director of the Madison Bach Musicians, which twice performed cantatas and concertos this past weekend, writes:

“Bass-baritone Joshua Copeland and I have been recording Franz Schubert’s song-cycle “Winterreise” (Winter Journey) this week at beautiful Park Hall in Sauk City.

“The acoustics are simply amazing and the ambiance is, well, take a look at these photos that Kent Sweitzer took there Tuesday morning.

“The concert is TONIGHT, THURSDAY EVENING, OCT. 9, AT 7 P.M.

“Sauk City is only 20 minutes from Madison’s west side—closer than American Players Theatre in Spring Green.

Here are directions: “To get to Park Hall at 307 Polk Street:  Just take Highway 12 west to Sauk City; cross the Wisconsin River; then turn right on John Adams Street, go two blocks and turn left on Polk Street, and you’re there. There is plenty of parking!

“All tickets are $25. You can purchase them in advance from MBM ticket outlets or at the door.”

Adds The Ear: At  bottom is a YouTube video of the legendary baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and pianist Murray Perahia performing “Gute Nacht” (Good Night), the opening song of the “Winterreise” cycle that in the first two lines announces the whole cycle’s motif: “A stranger I arrive, and a stranger I depart.”

No wonder the cycle was a favorite of the absurdist Irish playwright and writer Samuel Beckett.