22/05/2022
Shubert: Winterreise with Njål Sparbo (voice) and Einar Steen-Nøklebger (piano.) http://quattro.no/eng/records.html
A very interesting production!
The more you listen to it, the more nuances you find ... fantastic diction ... incredibly well presented! A magnificent recording, a splendid cover! This is really a production to be proud of!
Kjell Hillveg, På sporet. May 19.th 1996
Exemplary Sparbo, brilliant Schubert.. I must give him my unreserved congratulations to a recording which leaves you with a sense of loss from the moment it ceases. It is in fact not just the work itself that so strongly spellbinds the listener in me, it is equally Sparbo's interpretation ... Sparbo's German is exemplary, and with this CD he takes the step into the international arena. Winterreise is about giving up hope, writes Sparbo inside the cover, and contradicts himself musically the moment you hear the music from the loud speakers! Here is an art of singing that far from stands in the queue of hopelessness - and we listeners can only hope for more from the same source, winter or no."
Espen Mineur Sætre, Morgenbladet. May 10.th 1996
Njål Sparbo's Winterreise: a great event ..... in the interpretation of Lieder in this country, which should also cause reactions outside Norway ... a fully developed and strong interpretation ... which really takes its place amongst the available modern recordings of this work ... a brilliantly precise depiction of extreme mental states, verging on insanity, an expression of existential hopelessness ... all this exists within Sparbo and Steen-Nøkleberg's interpretation. One of Sparbo's most notable qualities is an exemplary, laser-sharp diction - he puts across all the verbal nuances in Wilhelm Müller's text. And yet he never forgets to sing it. I repeat: a great event. To be warmly recommended!
Harald Kolstad, Arbeiderbladet. April 30.th 1996
