In one of his last recordings, Jon Vickers – the greatest heroic tenor of his era – relives Schubert’s Winterreise with the almost hallucinatory intensity he also brought to such operatic roles as Tristan, Otello and Peter Grimes.

He reveals the secrets of his interpretative powers on the companion disc, which contains a public interview given in 1998 at London’s Barbican Centre to broadcaster Jon Tolansky, who describes Vickers as “a titanic singer”.

Contents:
CD 1 [79.48]
Franz SCHUBERT
- Winterreise D.911
Jon Vickers (tenor), Geoffrey Parsons (piano)
Recorded: 9–13 July 1983, Salle Wagram, Paris

CD 2 [53.32]
Jon Vickers in conversation with Jon Tolansky
Recorded at Barbican Centre Cinema, London, 25 October 1998
1. The audience welcomes Jon Vickers
2. Jon Vickers’ career from the beginning in Canada up to early performances at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden
3. Fidelio with Otto Klemperer
4a. Beethoven – Fidelio Act 2: Gott! Welch Dunkel hier!... In des Lebens Frühlingstagen (with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conductor Otto Klemperer)
4b. Observations on singing technique
5. Tristan und Isolde
6. Peter Grimes; Jon Vickers’ philosophy of performance
7. Presentation of Amici di Verdi medal to Jon Vickers by Sir Edward Downes