I use to bring a CD player to work, not anymore. My dally listening in office last few months is strictly internet. My most favorite station is ABC – Australasian Broadcast Corporation – a phenomenal source of good taste, excellent program, sane commentaries and very high quality of internet broadcasts.

http://www.abc.net.au/classic/audio/

The second advantages is that Australasian are 15 hours ahead of US Eastern time and when Australasian broadcast their local  live evening concert I have just a start of the work day (I start very early and tend do not work after lunch).

Today it had to be a live concept Schubert's Winterreise but it was canceled. Instead ABC played some strange orchestrated version of Winterreise. WOW! What an event!!!

I never heard the Hans Zenders’ orchestrated Winterreise and it was more then just wonderful.  It was played by Ensemble Modern lead by Hans Zender with Hans Peter Blochwitz carrying the tenor part. I am off to a shop to buy the recording…

Well I got the above monitored recording last night and I am spinning it all day. What the hell of fantastic interpretation – talking about the cotemporary touch!!! It is true painfully smart – nothing short of extraordinary in my view.

I am well accustomed to good Winterreise cycles. The estimable Fischer-Dieskau, particularly in his earlier years was very good. The war recording of Hans Hotter were on the very top of my list for a long time, those Hotters the cording from 50s were phenomenal also. The Schwarkopf with Edwin Fischer on piano perhaps did the best for female.  I was always expecting that some kind of heavy contralto singer would do the Winterreise…

And here is Hans Zender come up with his orchestrated version. I did not know Hans Zender before:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zender

The recording I got is Hans Zender himself conducts “Ensemble Modern” that is a small band of sub 20 musicians with semi-odd instruments and the CD suggests that it was the “premier recording”…

The Zender’sWinterreise sets completely different feeling then the piano version. Beside the brilliant Schubert's “stricture” it has that “instrumentals smartness” that you might fine in I would say Stravinsky’s “L'Histoire du Soldat”. All together is work superbly interesting… Bravo Mr. Zender!