Alban Berg/Anton Webern: Orchestral Pieces

On this CD:

1. Wozzeck, opera, Op. 7 Fragments (3) for voice and orches
Composed by Alban Berg
Performed by Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra with Hanne-Lore Kuhse
Conducted by Herbert Kegel

2. Lulu, suite (from the opera), for soprano & orchestra Symphonic Piece (Adagio)
Composed by Alban Berg
Performed by Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra with Hanne-Lore Kuhse
Conducted by Herbert Kegel

3. Passacaglia for orchestra, Op. 1
Composed by Anton Webern
Performed by Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Herbert Kegel

4. Movements (5) for string quartet, Op. 5
Composed by Anton Webern
Performed by Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Herbert Kegel

5. Pieces (6) for orchestra, Op. 6
Composed by Anton Webern
Performed by Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Herbert Kegel

6. Pieces (5) for orchestra, Op. 10
Composed by Anton Webern
Performed by Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Herbert Kegel

7. Symphony, Op. 21
Composed by Anton Webern
Performed by Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Herbert Kegel

Tracks:

Concerto For Piano, Op. 42: I. Andante
Concerto For Piano, Op. 42: II. Molto allegro
Concerto For Piano, Op. 42: III. Adagio
Concerto For Piano, Op. 42: IV. Giocoso
Variations, Op. 27: Sehr massig
Variations, Op. 27: Sehr schnell
Variations, Op. 27: Ruhig fliessend
Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11: I. Massig
Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11: II. Massig
Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11: III. Bewegt
Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19: I. Leicht, zart
Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19: II. Langsam
Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19: III. Sehr langsam
Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19: IV. Rasch, aber leicht
Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19: V. Etwas rasch
Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19: VI. Sehr langsam
Piano Sonata, Op. 1

Customer Reviews:

A Matter of Taste.......2006-11-05

I entirely agree with the previous reviewer. I can't talk about this music technically. What I do like about the dodecaphonic music of Schoenberg (and Berg and Webern) is, unlike music written strictly in keys, the feeling of gliding with it across variations of a landscape and touching down at times to take another stride. This piece was my accidental introduction to serial music and I have returned to it over decades to discover why and how it so transfixed me. I drifted from recording to recording until I realized the glide and stride of the experience. To my mind after years of reading about what goes on in serial music, those touch-downs must be those places where my ear hears tonal moments--after all, how can it not? And then striding, gliding, dancing with Ms Uchida in partnership with the orchestra across mosiacally shifting impressions, at times poignant and dolorous, at others charming, ebullient and delightful, as wines can sometimes be. It doesn't leave one humming, nor does one finally, entirely touch-down. Not an objective or technical appraisal, but pleasure, sometimes, is a knowledge difficult to withold--and articulate.

The Amazing Spectrum of the Repertoire of Mitsuko Uchida.......2006-01-19

For those who bask in the romantic warmth of Mitsuko Uchida's Schubert, Beethoven and Schumann or marvel at the clarity and finesse of her Mozart, this recording will remind all that the fiendishly difficult Schoenberg Piano Concerto Opus 42 is one work that she owns. She is able to find the arching lines within the myriad notes and remind us that the genius of the twelve tone music also gave us 'Gurrelieder' and 'Verklarte Nacht'! Uchida, in perfect synchrony and vision with Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra, offers the most brilliant reading of this great concerto on recording!

To round out the recital Uchida stays respectfully within the framework of the 'modern' sound by electing to offer two sets of Schoenberg's piano works: Pieces for Piano Opus 11 and Little Pieces for Piano Opus 19. These complex works are lovingly performed with precision and delicacy. Berg's Piano Sonata Opus 1 and Webern's Variations for Piano Opus 27 complete these echt Viennese school of music in performances that rival the finest.
Highly recommended. Grady Harp, January 06

Berg's Sonata Revealed.......2005-08-02

I have heard many recorded and live performances of the Berg Sonata, but this is the first which, in my opinion, gives us what Berg intended. The sonata is underrated by many, who clearly have not studied it carefully or listened to it repeatedly. It not to be merely knocked off,as with so many performers(e.g.,Perahia, Aimard, Gould, Nin An, et al.). Berg's score is richly detailed with clues to his intentions which, when followed (as here), result in an illuminating and accessible performance. And only an elitist would quarrel with accessibility. The artist's accuracy, particularly in the difficult development section (usually muddied up by others), and her sensitive interpretation throughout, make this the choice of the litter.

Among Uchida's Best.......2004-12-27

A little perspective: I am a 21-year old pianist who has made it his obligation in the past couple of years to thoroughly internalize Schoenberg's Op. 11 and 19, both of which are found on this CD. I am a stickler for following every little marking Schoenberg wrote, but I see a lot of room for creativity, too. My reference recordings have been those of Charles Rosen and Maurizio Pollini, both of which I hold in high esteem for their clean precision and abstract imagery. For the Berg sonata, I am partial to Maria Yudina's exuberant (and hard to find) recording. For the Webern variations, Richter's live performance in Vienna is my favorite. The Concerto is new to me, but I pulled out some recordings from the library to compare it to - Gould, Brendel, Ax, Peter Serkin.

Besides this disc, I have also heard Uchida albums of Schubert, Debussy, Mozart, and Chopin. I find that her playing tends to be dark-hued, dimly lit and compellingly non-intuitive, with an amazing command of passages calling for gossamer textures. She can also use impossibly slow tempi at times, coming up with conceptions so expansive that you can stick your head in between the notes. Both of those qualities make her Schoenberg Op. 19 quite different from the others I've heard, but the concept of space is the more striking and memorable. Uchida seems to be convinced that it is the silences in these tiny pieces that gives them their meaning, and long ritards to silence mark almost every bar. Yet the pieces never fall apart, because this is entirely in their character. It's a free interpretation, to be sure, and not one which is 100% faithful, but it's highly sympathetic and quite effective.

Her Op. 11 is more conventionally beautiful, and it's also easily the best I've heard. Never mind the fact that Uchida's hands could never actually span the gigantic chords in the third piece - the editing job is seamless and the musical content is what's important. These readings are far more humane than those of the ferocious Pollini, and the Romantic warmth bleeds through even though the sound is not plush. The influence of Brahms on Schoenberg can clearly be heard through this truly stellar reading.

The Berg Sonata is merely good. There are some beautiful moments and there is some real tension here, but Uchida seems to see this as a conventional sonata-allegro movement packing a few extra pounds around the middle, and that's exactly how it comes off. The Mahlerian drama is muted - I think it takes someone as incandescantly insane as Maria Yudina to really do it justice. Uchida certainly follows Berg's markings more closely than Yudina does, but they're not well enough internalized and so they don't have the effect that they should have.

The Webern is a welcome addition. Too many recordings of Webern have an excessive cleanliness to them which makes them alienating and creepy. This, on the other hand, is warm in the same way that Uchida's Schoenberg Op. 11 is, imbuing this fragmentary, elusive music with a real soul.

The Concerto is the most complex piece on the album, and this performance, by Uchida at the piano with Boulez conducting the Cleveland Orchestra, is the hardest for me to judge. No doubt that it is fearsomely difficult to play, and she does a fantastic job. Every page bristles with new and different difficulties, but these are not merely pianistic bells and whistles like you hear in Rachmaninoff or Prokofiev. The importance Schoenberg puts on each awkwardly placed note makes this piece doubly difficult to execute. Uchida's overall conception is smooth and highly intelligible, with a fantastic sound. The only thing it really lacks is style. The Haydn-esque finale is rather flat compared with any of the other major recordings, such as Gould or Brendel just to name a couple. Although the form is there, the spark of life is a bit weak. Nonetheless this is a high-quality recording.

There is much to recommend this CD, and there is more than enough original contribution here to merit a listen by anyone interested in the Second Viennese School. Go pick it up!

Exciting Performance!.......2002-12-13

I've heard two recordings of this work in the past and thought it was just ugly music. Then I heard this incredible performance. It is so clear, so precise, so exciting! I will listen to it again and again. This is the one to buy. It's wonderful!

Alban Berg: 3 Orchestral Pieces, Op. 6 / Anton Webern: 6 Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 / Arnold Schoenberg: 5 Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16 - James Levine / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Average customer rating:

Alban Berg: 3 Orchestral Pieces, Op. 6 / Anton Webern: 6 Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 / Arnold Schoenberg: 5 Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16 - James Levine / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Alban Berg (Composer) , Anton Webern (Composer) , Arnold Schoenberg (Composer) , James Levine (Conductor) , and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B00000E3HC
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Schoenberg, Berg, Webern: Orchestral Works / Karajan

Average customer rating:

Ridiculously overrated
Superlative recordings of innovative yet inspired music!
sold enough copies to equal the height of the eiffel tower
It's not the Beatles, It's Modern Mania courtesy of Karajan
A seductive invitation to the Second Viennese School

Schoenberg, Berg, Webern: Orchestral Works / Karajan

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Complete Webern

ASIN: B000031WYL
Release Date: 2000-01-11

Tracks:

Passacaglia fur Orchester Op. 1
Drei Stucke aus der 'Lyrischen Suite': 2. Andante amoroso
Drei Stucke aus der 'Lyrischen Suite': 3. Allegro misterioso
Drei Stucke aus der 'Lyrischen Suite': 4. Adagio appassionato
Drei Orchesterstucke Op. 6: 1. Praludium Langsam
Drei Orchesterstucke Op. 6: 2. Reigen. Anfangs etwas zogernd - Leicht beschwingt
Drei Orchesterstucke Op. 6: 3. Marsch. Massiges Marschtempo
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Intoduktion. Massig, ruhig
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Thema. Molto moderato
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Variation I. Moderato
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Variation II. Langsam
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Variation III. Massig
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Variation IV. Walzertempo
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Variation V. Bewegt
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Variation VI. Andante
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Variation VII. Langsam
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Variation VIII. Sehr rasch
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Variation IX. L'istesso tempo; aber etwas langsamer
Variationen fur Orchester Op. 31: Finale. Massig schnell

Customer Reviews:

Ridiculously overrated.......2007-06-02

Why this recording has received one rave review after another over the years is beyond comprehension. Karajan's Webern Passacaglia sounds like an arrangement for Lawrence Welk. The Schoenberg is unnaturally recorded, with the sections of the orchestra actually moved into new seating arrangements for each variation. Plus, a bothersome pre-echo is noticeable throughout. As for Berg's Three Pieces for Orchestra, even renowned critic and Karajan fan Richard Osborne admits the performance is "perhaps too free a paraphrase of Berg's text." Paraphrase? Of music so exact, so precise? If you think this is what Berg's Three Pieces is supposed to sound like, please listen to Abbado or Boulez or Michael Gielen instead.

Superlative recordings of innovative yet inspired music!.......2007-03-14

It helps with this recording (brilliantly done by Deutsche-Grammophon Gesellschaft) that the ensemble are no less than the grand Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of the late Herbert von Karajan!!!

The music-making and obvious commitment of everybody to this music is what throughout carries the day with what at times is downright-FORBIDDING music!! [Particularly here apparently-begging for a severe citation are the Schoenberg Variations of Opus 31 - at times {notably the end} it sounds as if the composer was really out to drive people away! I apologise for being so harsh (maybe on repeated listenings this music yet may win me over the way the Webern Op.1 and the Berg Op.6 have), but that's the way yours truly feels as of now...] Still, Karajan has managed to pierce through to the essence thereof and conveys its inspiration, textures, polyphony, melodic fragments, etc. with obvious love! No less important are the glorious sonorities with which the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra endows these pieces (and which helps in getting the messages of these pieces across all the more readily!) - surely the composers would have been more than pleased!

Most certainly much of this music is almost impossible to digest on one hearing for practically everybody (with the Berg Op.6 and the Webern Op.1 {the latter still tonal, which helps!} being the most accessible of all). It requires several hearings (for some no doubt MANY repeated trials!) before its secrets will finally come to the fore - and most certainly there is NO other recording of these works that humanises and beautifies (yet without cheating via changing of any notes, rhythms, dynamics, etc.!) these masterpieces!!! An absolute must for all Modernist-music lovers as well as for all musicians (in fact, it's a must for ALL who have ears to hear!)! Five stars out of five - and then some!

sold enough copies to equal the height of the eiffel tower.......2006-06-02

This celebrated boxed set must've been something of a milestone when it was first released in the early seventies,bringing this marvellous music to a wider audience.Karajan boasted that it quickly sold enough copies to equal the height of the Eiffel Tower.
Ok,Karajan may not have been the greatest of intellects but instinct can go a long way, and he seems very well attuned to the Second Viennese School (unlike Stravinsky/Bartok which seemed a mismatch) whether it's the glacial pianissimos of Webern's 6 Orchestral Pieces or the grim premonitions of Berg's 3 Orchestral Pieces.Certainly,i don't detect any superficial gloss or smoothing out of the textures.
Strongly recommended,even if you normally give atonal music a wide berth.

It's not the Beatles, It's Modern Mania courtesy of Karajan.......2005-12-18

People love to hate Serialism and they have good reason for doing so. Serialism forced classical music into a backwater that it's been trying to get out of for decades. Minimalism, electronic music, neo-romanticism have all had their relative success but the prevailing mood of thought is still that modern music must inherently be dissonant and repugnant to human ears.
People of more populist, mainstream musical thought don't even consider these kind of compositions, on this CD, music at all. That's sad for them but it's also sad for modern music connoisseurs to still advocate serial methods in the 21st century, which is totally false and laughable, even Schoenberg would be bored by now. We have to understand that Webern perfected the 12 tone method and beyond him composers should find their own voices, get rid of that straightjacket.

I have misgivings about Arvo Part, John Adams and others, but at least they tried and are still trying to give classical music, aka real music, relevancy in an age of Britney Spears and Ludacris. The Second Viennese School practically succeeded in making real music irrelevant to the public. Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Bartok, Stravinsky and R. Strauss kept the torch of real art alive in the 20th century, an age of musical manifestos and authoritarian blowhards like Pierre Boulez.

Nonetheless, let's judge the works on this CD for what they are, an exploration of music into new, mostly uncharted waters.
Webern's Passacaglia, op.1 is an amazing work. This was Karajan's favorite work of the Second Vienna School, I believe, and he gives it the kind of shock power and resonance I did not find in the cool headed approach by Boulez. Great music for horror films, right? Of course this applies to all the works on this disc. Berg's Lyric Suite evokes dark hallways, corridors of suspense, eerie graveyards. Film composers have been ripping off modern composers for ages you know. The Three Pieces for Orchestra are awesome under Karajan, especially that quasi-Mahlerian march of the last movement. It's the craziest, most difficult work written by this trio of composers. The final work is the Variations for Orchestra by Schoenberg, a work that has fascinated Karajan for sometime. The liner notes state that Karajan reseated the orchestra for every variation to get the right sound, clarity and balance that this rigid music requires. A reviewer below states that clarity is sometimes obscured throughout. Perhaps he's right, if he likes the reductionist approach of Boulez, feel free to get that. However Karajan seems to interpret these works as more than just intellectual exercises. We all know that Schoenberg and Berg were die-hard late Romantics who cloathed themselves in modernist garb, they are still infected by Wagner, Brahms, Mahler and Strauss, whether they like to admit it ( in the case of Mahler ) or not. Even Anton Webern, who later went on to develop his tiny micro-universes, still had trace matter of the late romantic temperment. So, is it so wrong for Karajan to perhaps expose these undercurrents more readily than other conductors? Karajan can be just as icy as Boulez but Boulez can never be as warm as Karajan which in my mind makes Karajan an infinitely greater conductor because of his more expansive view of musical interpretation.

This CD should be part of your collection, fascinating but difficult works of music, great sound, the best orchestra in the world, led by one of a kind conductor.

A seductive invitation to the Second Viennese School.......2005-11-24

One of the pleasures of this superb collection is that an untutored listener can start with the first item, Webern's Passacaglia Op. 1, and feel more or less at home with its familiar post-Mahler idiom. Then by stages Karajan leads our ears deeper into the revolutionary heart of the Second Viennese School.

For me the apex of enjoyment was the central work, Berg's Three Pieces, which here are performed with all the richness and impact of Mahler. My ear can't follow Berg's 12-tone argument, but I am riveted by his overwhelming grip on emotion and drama. The music is harder to listen to than Wozzeck but is cut from the same Expressionist cloth. Finally, I was faced with the least accessible work, Schoenberg's Variations, but by that time the atonal world didn't sound so eerie or aggressively foreign and I could derive pleasure from surrendering to one of the most amazing sound worlds any composer has ever imagined. Superb sonics, by the way, to go with the high-voltage, totally committed performances.

Michael Gielen Conducts Schönberg, Berg, Webern, Steuermann, Gielen

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Michael Gielen Conducts Schönberg, Berg, Webern, Steuermann, Gielen

Manufacturer: Hanssler Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0002N48XA
Release Date: 2004-08-01

Average customer rating:

Dissonant bliss
An enjoyable miscellany

Schoenberg, Berg and Webern

Manufacturer: Koch Int'l Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00004WJMB
Release Date: 2000-09-26

Tracks:

Five Pieces, Op.16: I. Vorgefuhle: Sehr Rasch
Five Pieces, Op.16: II. Vergangenes: Massige Viertel
Five Pieces, Op.16: III. Farben (Sommermorgen Am See): Massige Viertel
Five Pieces, Op.16: IV. Peripetie: Sehr Rasch
Five Pieces, Op.16: V. Das Obligate Rezitativ: Bewegte Achtel
Six Little Pno Pieces, Op.19: I. Leicht, Zart
Six Little Pno Pieces, Op.19: II. Langsam
Six Little Pno Pieces, Op.19: III. Sehr Langsame Viertel
Six Little Pno Pieces, Op.19: IV. Rasch, Aber Leicht
Six Little Pno Pieces, Op.19: V. Etwas Rasch
Six Little Pno Pieces, Op.19: VI. Sehr Langsam
Four Pieces, Op.5: I. Massig
Four Pieces, Op.5: II. Sehr Langsam
Four Pieces, Op.5: III. Sehr Rasch
Four Pieces, Op.5: IV. Langsam
Vc Son: Sehr Bewegt
Two Pieces: I. Langsam
Two Pieces: II. Langsam
Adagio
Vars, Op.27: I. Sehr Massig
Var, Op.27: II. Sehr Schnell
Var, Op.27: III. Ruhig Fliessend

Customer Reviews:

Dissonant bliss.......2004-10-26

I was looking for a variety of atonal miniatures and I found it on this recording. None of the pieces are cheery, all are mysterious and forlorn sounding. Excellent CD to keep you company on a cold, lonely night camping in the middle of nowhere. TT 68:23

An enjoyable miscellany.......2004-01-13

This is the second of two discs recorded by Christoph Eschenbach and the Houston Symphony Chamber Players and devoted to the music of the Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Berg and Webern). The first disc was focused around Webern's Concerto for Nine Instruments and Schoenberg's rarely-recorded Wind Quintet; this disc concentrates primarily on shorter works.

We hear Schoenberg's seminal Five Pieces for Orchestra, written in 1909, in a version for chamber orchestra by Felix Greissle. Despite the reduced scoring (the original calls for a large orchestra, though often used in a chamber-music-like manner), much of this work survives the transition well even if the last two movements feel somewhat denuded. This reading is sympathetic and well-attuned to the idiom (I particularly like Eschenbach's impressively broad reading of the second piece) and although this version of the work is very much a curiosity, it is one that Schoenberg fans will be glad to hear.

Eschenbach switches to the piano for the rest of the program. Schoenberg's Six Little Piano Pieces from 1911 receive an usually slow reading, but one that brings out the restrained colours and moods of these masterly atonal miniatures well. Less subdued are Berg's Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, from 1913. Schoenberg's withering criticism of these pieces--he felt they were too short and too Schoenbergian--may have been partly right, but Berg's own lyricism is only too obvious, particularly in the slow final piece. The performance here is good without being outstanding.

Continuing with the world of concision, Webern's unpublished 1914 Cello Sonata lasts a whole two minutes. It is very typical of the composer's style at that point, with its sudden, violent changes of mood and dramatic use of silences. By contrast, the Two Pieces for Cello Sonata, written in 1899, when the composer was 16, are essentially high-quality salon music.

Berg's Chamber Concerto is generally considered to be one of his thorniest works, and perhaps one of the reasons for arranging the Adagio for piano, violin and clarinet was to clarify the lyricism that in poorer performances gets lost in a mass of detail. Certainly, the atonally melodic nature of this work comes over very clearly in this fine performance.

Eschenbach closes the disc with the only serial work on it, Webern's Variations for Piano, written in 1936. This work isn't really a variation set--only the last of the three movements is in variation form, coming as it does after a rather ambivalent opening and a witty second movement complete with off-centre accents. This rather low-voltage performance, unfortunately, doesn't measure up to the classic readings of Rosen, Pollini and others.

Customer Reviews:

LITTLE BOX CONTAINS BIG THRILLS !!!!!.......2004-09-15

JUST GOT THIS ONE TODAY. MY MOM GAVE ME MONEY FOR IT (THANK YOU, MOMMY!!!) I HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO IT ALL AFTERNOON AND AM EXTREMELY PLEASED WITH IT. I THINK YOU WILL BE TOO. SOME OF THESE RECORDINGS HAVE BEEN PREVIOSLY RELEASED ON CD (THE SIBELIUS AND THE HAYDN DISCS ARE THE ONES I ALREADY HAD), BUT THE NEW STUFF IS WORTH GETTING THE WHOLE BOX FOR. THIS INCLUDES STEREO RECORDINGS OF BEETHOVEN 5TH PIANO CONCERTO WITH CASADESUS AND A PETROUCHKA BOTH WITH CONCERTGEBOUW AND A BERG, WEBERN, AND STRAVINKY AGON DISC THAT WAS ORIGINALLY ON WESTMINSTER IN THE 50S. SPECIAL MENTION SHOULD ALSO BE MADE OF THE PIECES BY BORIS BLACHER. NOT FAMILIAR MUSIC, BUT I CONFESS I REALLY LIKED IT IMMEDIATELY. SOUND QUALITY IS GREAT THROUGHOUT THE SET, SOME MONO, BUT THEY ALL SOUND FANTASTIC. IF YOU'RE NOT FAMILIAR WITH HANS ROSBAUD, THIS IS A GOOD PLACE TO START. IN MY HUMBLE OPINION ONE OF THE GREATEST CONDUCTORS. SHAME ON EMI/IMG FOR NOT INCLUDING HIM IN THE SO-CALLED "GREAT CONDUCTORS OF THE 20TH CENTURY" SERIES. HE WAS A GREAT CONDUCTOR !!! DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, ASK STRAVINSKY OR BOULEZ !!! ALSO GIVE THIS A TRY, YOU'LL WONDER WHY THIS GUY ISN'T MENTIONED IN THE SAME BREATH AS FURTWANGLER, KARAJAN, ETC. A TRULY IMPORTANT AND UNMISSABLE ISSUE. THANKS TO DEUTSCHE GRAMOPHONE AND THANK YOU TO YOU FOR READING MY REVIEW !!!!

Vienna: Music by Schoenberg, Webern and Berg

Average customer rating:

Favorite recording of Berg's 3 Pieces
excellent, terrific
Dorati does it again
One of Dorati's Best Recordings
As If It Was Just Music, Which It Is

Vienna: Music by Schoenberg, Webern and Berg

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000057KO
Release Date: 1990-09-12

Tracks:

Five Pieces for Orchestra: I. Vorgefuhle
Five Pieces for Orchestra: II. Vergangenes
Five Pieces for Orchestra: III. Sommermorgen an einem See
Five Pieces for Orchestra: IV. Peripetie
Five Pieces for Orchestra: V. Das obligate Rezitativ
Five Pieces for Orchestra Op. 10: Five Pieces For Orchestra, Op. 10 - I. Sehr ruhig und zart - II. Lebhaft un zart bewegt - III. Sehr langsam und ausserst ruhig - IV. Fliessend ausserst zart - V. Sehr fliessend
Three Pieces for Orchestra Op. 6: I. Praeludium
Three Pieces for Orchestra Op. 6: II. Reigen
Three Pieces for Orchestra Op. 6: III. Marsch
Lulu Suite: I. Rondo
Lulu Suite: II. Ostinato
Lulu Suite: III. Lulu's Song
Lulu Suite: IV. Variations
Lulu Suite: V. Adagio

Amazon.com

Schoenberg's Five Pieces were a Mercury Living Presence specialty. They were recorded first in mono, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Rafael Kubelik (a great performance recently reissued on CD), and then again in stereo--this version is also excellent. It's all the more amazing when you consider that in the 1950s and early '60s they were considered by most concertgoers to be the musical Antichrist. Today it's a little hard to see what the fuss was about. They are actually quite beautiful, sort of atonal Debussy, and along with the Berg and Webern pieces, these may have been the first professional recordings that really did justice to the works of the Second Viennese School. They still sound great--a tribute to both Antal Dorati and Mercury. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Favorite recording of Berg's 3 Pieces.......2006-03-14

Since the LP days, this has been my favorite recording of Berg's 3 Orchestral pieces. Dorati is one of the greatest underrated conductors ever. The recording is fantastic and the CD edition, great (altough the LPs still sound better).

excellent, terrific.......2004-08-15

This is a very good collection of 2nd Vienna School. All works are amazing. These works are not dangerous modernly, but very effective, somewhere dramatic, too. And the performances of Antal Dorati is awesome. His London Symphony Orchestra played with emotion, powerfrul, effective. The sound quality is excellent, too.

Schoenberg's Five Pieces, Op. 16 is his one of the first atonal works. Written for large orchestra, and it is very insane, impressive, somewhere very contemplative and calm (in 2nd and 3rd pieces). But, I think the star of this CD is Alban Berg's Three Pieces for Orchestra:

Berg's Three Pieces, Op. 6 is may be the most complex work of 2nd Vienna School, but it is most impressive, too. Especially, the last movement, which a funeral music written with influencing of World War I, is very effective, heavy but drammatic, touching. In last minutes there are very powerful climaxes which there is a solo for hammer! The last exploding chord of the work, which comes after a very deep deathful silence, is terrible. I think, this is may be a prophety of Berg, which means these wars will not finish, may be in next years there are more terrible wars, including atomic bomb!!

Another important work is Berg's Lulu-Suite. This suite be constitued from his second opera, as you know. It is includes, a very amazing music, Interlude-Film Music. In this movement, the curtain of 2nd Act's 1st scene falls and then a silent-non-coloured film starts with this music. It has a very interesting, but intelligent form, based on film's story: the music starts and go forward, then it arrves a centre of music, and then it goes backwards! and finishes as like starts...

It is an essential recording and at this price, a must have for any classical music lovers. Highly reccomended.

Dorati does it again.......2002-09-07

Here is nice collection of orchestral works by the second Viennese school, the big three of atonality:Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg. Antal Dorati, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, brings the same fire and verve to these touchstones of musical Modernism that was so amply displayed in his legendary recording of Stravinsky's "Le Sacre Du Printemps" with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (one of my all-time favorite classical recordings). The Schoenberg pieces are full of rich texture and intriguing rhythmic juxtapositions, definitly a good introduction to the work of this challenging composer. The concise angular miniatures of Webern's "Five Pieces" for orchestra last only a little longer than four minutes, and are stunningly concise and inventive, with nary a note wasted. These are priceless sonic jewels that rank up there with the composer's "Six Bagatelles" for string quartet in economy and invention, with an equally precise placement of silences that thunder with the same authority as the notes(if only a little softer!). Berg is a composer I'm less familiar with, but these works seem to support his reputation as the most "traditional" of the three. His pieces have a lushness and density of sound not found in most of Schoenberg, and certainly not in Webern. They strike me as less inventive than the works of the other two, like Romantic music without the dramatic tonality. Consequently, Berg's works don't demand my attention like those of Schoenberg and Webern; but a more traditional classical music listener might get more out of them than I do. All in all, a nice, well-conducted collection with surprisingly good sound (only a little tape hiss, here and there), considering that these are recordings from the early 60's.

One of Dorati's Best Recordings.......2001-10-02

One of the most famous records of the Lp era contained these gorgeous performances of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern, performances that establish those composers' important connections with Mahler and Debussy. Now resplendently remastered for cd, they still shine. If you're at all shy when it comes to the music of Schoenberg and the rest of the "Second Viennese School," take the plunge with this disk! Dorati positively milks these scores for drama without sacrificing any of their inherent poetry and, yes, real charm. Sound quality remains spectacular after 40 years. Note that the cd contains all the music on the original Lp, and generously adds to it a great performance of Berg's "Lulu Suite" taken from another famous Living Presence Lp that also contained excerpts from Berg's earlier opera, "Wozzeck." (P.S. You can find the "Wozzeck" excerpts included on Dorati's awesome Mercury cd of Bartok's opera "Duke Bluebeard's Castle." Another "must have" classic!)

As If It Was Just Music, Which It Is.......2001-04-01

Here are some full-bodied orchestral works from the Big Three composers of twelve-tone music (though the pieces may not all be strictly twelve-tone). You can load this CD into your multi-disc player along with other early Twentieth Century pieces that are not twelve-tone and they will fit right in. The secret is Dorati's approach to this music: He treats them just as if they were regular pieces of music, not something to examine as an historical curiosity, not something to work hard at exposing all the details (at the expense of each piece's wholeness), and certainly not something to worship. They're just naturally and sympathetically played, and all those nice details show up anyway.

The recordings harken from that era when Mercury was using the 35 MM film system of recording, and the good news about that is that the "tape hiss" you would normally associate with a recording from this era is tremendously low. All you get is the music.

Tracks:

Litany From String Quartet No.2
Massig
Sehr Langsam
Sehr Rasch
Langsam
Anton Webern
Concertino
Munter
Sehr Langsam - Lebhaft - Sehr Langsam, Wie Zuerst - Wieder Lebhaft
Danse De La Fureur, Pour Les Sept Trompettes
Largo
Allegro Molto
Allegretto
Largo
Largo

The Vienna Philharmonic: 20th Century Music, Volume I

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The Vienna Philharmonic: 20th Century Music, Volume I

Manufacturer: Andante
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00009YW8Y
Release Date: 2003-07-08

Tracks:

Arthur Honegger, Symphony No. 5 "Di tre re": I. [Ernest Ansermet (conductor), 2 December 1951]
Arthur Honegger, Symphony No. 5 "Di tre re": II. Allegretto - Adagio - Allegretto [Ernest Ansermet (conductor), 2 December 1951]
Arthur Honegger, Symphony No. 5 "Di tre re": III. Allegro marcato [Ernest Ansermet (conductor), 2 December 1951]
Igor Stravinsky, Le Sacre du printemps. 1er partie: L'adoration de la terre [Igor Markevitch (conductor), 26 April 1952]
Igor Stravinsky, Le Sacre du printemps. 2 partie: Le sacrifice [Igor Markevitch (conductor), 26 April 1952]
Leos Jank, Sinfonietta: I. Allegro [Rafael Kubel(conductor), 3 March 1955]
Leos Jank, Sinfonietta: II. Andante [Rafael Kubel(conductor), 3 March 1955]
Leos Jank, Sinfonietta: III. Moderato [Rafael Kubel(conductor), 3 March 1955]
Leos Jank, Sinfonietta: IV. Allegretto [Rafael Kubel(conductor), 3 March 1955]
Leos Jank, Sinfonietta: V. Allegro [Rafael Kubel(conductor), 3 March 1955]

Tracks:

Anton Webern, Passacaglia, Op. 1 [Zubin Mehta (conductor), 3 December 1983]
Anton Webern, Six Movements for Orchestra: I. Langsam [Zubin Mehta (conductor), 3 December 1983]
Anton Webern, Six Movements for Orchestra: II. Bewegt [Zubin Mehta (conductor), 3 December 1983]
Anton Webern, Six Movements for Orchestra: III. Zart bewegt [Zubin Mehta (conductor), 3 December 1983]
Anton Webern, Six Movements for Orchestra: IV. Sehr langsam. Marcia funebre [Zubin Mehta (conductor), 3 December 1983]
Anton Webern, Six Movements for Orchestra: V. Langsam [Zubin Mehta (conductor), 3 December 1983]
Anton Webern, Six Movements for Orchestra: VI. Nicht zu langsam [Zubin Mehta (conductor), 3 December 1983]
Alban Berg, Der Wein (Text by Stefan George, after Charles Baudelaire) [Dorothy Dorow (soprano), Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]
Arnold Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5: I. Die Achtel ein wenig bewegt - znd [Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]
Arnold Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5: II. Heftig [Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]
Arnold Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5: III. Lebhaft [Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]
Arnold Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5: IV. Sehr rasch [Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]
Arnold Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5: V. Ein wenig bewegt [Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]
Arnold Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5: VI. Langsam [Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]
Arnold Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5: VII. Ein wenig bewegter [Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]
Arnold Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5: VIII. Sehr langsam [Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]
Arnold Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5: IX. Etwas bewegt [Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]
Arnold Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5: X. In gehender Bewegung [Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]
Arnold Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5: XI. Breit [Karl B(conductor), 1 June 1969]

Tracks:

Franz Schmidt, Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major: I. Lebhaft [Erich Leinsdorf (conductor), 29 October 1983]
Franz Schmidt, Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major: II. Allegretto con variazioni [Erich Leinsdorf (conductor), 29 October 1983]
Franz Schmidt, Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major: III. Finale [Erich Leinsdorf (conductor), 29 October 1983

Album Description

The Vienna Philharmonic has long been recognized as the world's standard-bearing orchestra for music of the late Classical and Romantic eras. In this unique three-CD set of previously unreleased live performances, the VPO applies its glorious sound to the masterpieces of the 20th century, from Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" (with Igor Markevitch conducting) and scores of the Second Viennese School (with Zubin Mehta and Karl Böhm) to Honegger's Fifth Symphony (Ansermet), Janácek's Sinfonietta (Kubelík), Franz Schmidt's Second Symphony (Leinsdorf) and Egon Wellesz's rarely heard "Prosperos Beschwörungen" (Haitink). Drawn from the archives of the VPO and Austrian Radio, these recordings — dating from 1951 to 1985 — were digitally mastered by Ton Eichinger Studio in Vienna for maximum sonic impact.

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