An exploration of the world's most famous and challenging song cycle by one of the world's most renowned singers, a leading interpreter of the work, who teases out the themes--literary, historical, psychological--that weave through the twenty-four songs comprising this legendary masterpiece. Written in 1828, in the last months of the young Schubert's life, Winterreise ("Winter's Journey"), has come to be considered the single greatest piece of music ever written for the male solo voice. Deceptively brief--the twenty-four short poems are performed uninterrupted in 70 minutes--it nonetheless has an emotional depth and power that no music of its kind has ever equaled. Originally intended to be sung to an intimate gathering, performances of Winterreise now pack the greatest concert halls around the world. Drawing on his firsthand experience with this work (he has performed it more than one hundred times), on his musical knowledge, and on his training as a scholar, Ian Bostridge teases out the enigmas and subtle meanings of each song, exploring the world and the states of heart and mind in which Schubert created them, and the exquisite resonance and affinities that continue, even today, to move us so profoundly.