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Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ New Generation Artists scheme.
Alice Coote sings Schubert's Winterreise.
Georgia Mann introduces Schubert's epic Winter Journey in a performance given recently at London's Wigmore Hall by the great British mezzo-soprano, an early member of Radio 3's prestigious young artist programme.
Founded in 1999 with the aim of supporting and nurturing some of the world’s most exciting young musicians at the start of their international careers, the NGA scheme now boasts well over a hundred distinguished alumni, many of whom, like Alice Coote - an NGA between 2001 and 2003 - are major players on the world stage. Membership of the scheme is for a period of just over two years, during which time artists can expect to appear at some of the UK’s most prestigious venues and festivals, perform with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ orchestras, make studio recordings, and commission new work.

Schubert: Winterreise - song-cycle D.911
Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano)
Julius Drake (piano)
rec. 12.12.2019.

Schubert wrote his melancholy cycle in 1827 when he was already wracked by the illness which was to kill him. As his friend, the poet Mayrhofer wrote: "His life had lost its rosiness and winter was upon him." Yet these songs, often bleak in their outlook, were for Schubert, the greatest he’d ever written, he told his friends at the time: "…. Today…I will play you a cycle of terrifying songs; they have affected me more than has ever been the case with any other songs… These songs please me more than all the rest, and in time they will please you as well."