Sound of Winter – Hohe Tauern National Park with Michael Schade

The film follows tenor Michael Schade through the Hohe Tauern National Park. He becomes the wanderer himself, setting out by moonlight with only the memory of happier days for company. Along the thread of Schubert’s song cycle he experiences the loneliness and menace of a harsh landscape as well as encounters with the people who live there. At the end of his journey he is welcomed by the Bachchor Salzburg and sings Schubert’s “Nachthelle” with them.

“Winterreise” was recorded without an audience in the auditorium of Mittersill Castle, as a dialogue between singer and pianist: Christoph Hammer plays a fortepiano from the workshop of Robert A. Brown in Oberndorf near Salzburg. Between the blocks of songs come chamber and choral works by Schubert, recorded in the parish church of St. Leonhard in Mittersill – with the Bach Consort Wien and friends such as Benjamin Schmid, Firmian Lermer, David Pennetzdorfer and Florian Birsak, with the Bachchor Salzburg and with Rubén Dubrovsky as musical director.

Goethe’s poem “Harzreise im Winter”, spoken by Wolfram Berger, is heard as the literary text. Schubert himself came to know Salzburg – and, in the Gastein valley, part of today’s national park – in September 1825 and was deeply impressed by the landscape. The film was made in autumn 2020, ahead of the national park’s 50th anniversary in 2021.