Roderick Williams hit on the idea of creating an English song equivalent to Winterreise when studying Schubert’s iconic song cycle a decade ago. Since then, he’s refined his playlist, adding and subtracting until finally arriving at the intriguing programme presented here. It’s an enthralling conceit that more than holds water over an hour and a half, especially in the hands of such a lithe-toned and instinctual storyteller.
Some connections were straightforward. Vaughan Williams’ The Vagabond is driven by the same dogged tread as Winterreise’s Good Night, while the flurry of chords that propel Quilter’s Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind mimic Schubert’s madly spinning Weathervane. The arboreal imagery and homespun melody of Linden Lea, here given in a gently burring Dorset dialect, is a musical doppelganger for the similarly folksy Linden Tree.
