An astonishingly visceral Winterreise for the 21st century, Douglas Knehans’s Backwards from Winter is a single woman’s reflection on a love relationship—a space for grief, and her negotiating of that grief. It is scored for solo soprano (“Woman”); there is a part for “Man” as exteriorized in the form of an electric cellist who also sings, and an electronic component.

The superb libretto is by Juanita Rockwell: Each scene is cast in three Tanka verses (a 31-syllable precursor to Haiku; the word “tanka” means “short poem”). The journey begins with “Winter” and moves through the seasons, with the first three seasons followed by a section that remembers it (so, “Winter” is followed by “Remembering Winter” and so on); with the coming of “Spring,” however, the music moves to “Remembering Everything.” The setting is “the landscape of memory and presence.”

This performance took place in Tasmania in June 2018, shortly after the work’s world premiere in New York’s Thalia Theater on 25/5/2018, during the New York Opera Fest. The recording is stunning, as is the standard of performance from both live musicians; it is hard to credit that this is indeed live from that perspective. Weusten in particular seems to have limitless stamina. One of Knehans’s finest musical statements, this is a stunning release. This is what contemporary opera should be like. 

Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine

Double Gold Medal Winner—Global Music Awards