This is a decidedly offbeat issue. In addition to an absorbing interpretation of Winterreise, which comprises the second CD, we have a strange melange on the first disc that consists of some of the songs arranged for viola and piano, some for piano alone, and some of the poems merely being read by Peter Hartling, who ends the disc with a 12-minute Epilogue, discoursing on Muller's life. He speaks, of course, in German, but the booklet carries an English translation by LS, who strives gamely to cope with the often-pretentious language being used here and in the accompanying notes. This whole side seems an unnecessary gloss on a cycle that is its own justification and doesn't need this kind of heavyhanded exposition. That said, the viola playing of Tabea Zimmermann (are they her own arrangements?—we're not told) is peculiarly eloquent, especially in ''Wasserflut'' and ''Der Leiermann''.
As for Winterreise itself, that's something else. I have heard Shirai and Holl do nothing better than their reading of this cycle which, sated though I am through repeated hearing of the work, I found gripping from start to finish. Shirai's voice here seems to have taken on a new dimension, a darker tonal colour, a new expressiveness that is constantly compelling with the emphasis on the drama. ''Wasserflut'' is as good an example as any of her new-found power, with the weight of phrase and the sustained legato exemplary, rising to a shattering climax in the last line. In contrast ''Der Lindenbaum'' is notable for its beautiful mezza voce and the singer's luminous tone. ''Das Wirtshaus'' and ''Der Leiermann'' are taken too slowly, but it has to be admitted that they are both mesmeric at the given tempo.
Above all, this interpretation is notable for its unity of approach: wife and husband think and perform the songs as one, with the kind of instinctive understanding found in that other notable partnership—that of Pears and Britten on mid-price Decca. And Holl's playing is in the Britten class for its many moments of revelatory insights. I noted the accents and the clarity of the inner parts in ''Wasserflut'', the stark articulation in ''Auf dem Flusse'', the defiant bravado of ''Mut!'', the onomatopoeic effects throughout, but particularly the sound of the horses in ''Die Post''. Altogether Holl's weight and authority are as impressive as any pianist's in this work.
As a pair, the two view the cycle in the starkest, unvarnished way, the weary, lovelorn protagonist travelling an inclement road from which there is no return. In that respect theirs challenges the Pears/Britten version and that of Fassbaender with Reimann (EMI), who matches, in a different way, Holl's perceptions. The recording is faultlessly balanced, the sound spacious yet immediate. Sorry, but here we have yet another version of this work that simply cannot be overlooked.'