Anton Webern; Alban Berg; Arnold Schoenberg - Orchestral Works (Herbert von Karajan)

Information

Composer: Anton Webern; Alban Berg; Arnold Schoenberg

1. Webern - Passacaglia for orchestra, Op. 1
2. Berg - Lyric Suite for orchestra: 1. Andante amoroso
3. Berg - Lyric Suite for orchestra: 2. Allegro misterioso
4. Berg - Lyric Suite for orchestra: 3. Adagio appassionato
5. Berg - 3 Pieces for orchestra, Op. 6: 1. Praeludium
6. Berg - 3 Pieces for orchestra, Op. 6: 2. Reigen
7. Berg - 3 Pieces for orchestra, Op. 6: 3. Marsch
8. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Introduktion. Mäßig, ruhig
9. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Thema. Molto moderato
10. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Variation I. Moderato
11. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Variation II. Langsam
12. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Variation III. Mäßig
13. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Variation IV. Walzertempo
14. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Variation V. Bewegt
15. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Variation VI. Andante
16. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Variation VII. Langsam
17. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Variation VIII. Sehr rasch
18. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Variation IX. L'istesso tempo; aber etwas langsamer
19. Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Op. 31: Finale. Mäßig schnell

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan, conductor
Dates: 1972 (5-7), 1973 (2-4), 1974 (1, 8-19)
Label: Deutsche Grammophone
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4577602

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Reviews

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 8

These performances, from a 1970’s 4-LP set of Second Viennese School composers, are some of Herbert von Karajan’s finest. Here we find the conductor’s particular idiosyncrasies (extreme dynamic contrasts, emphasis on sonority over movement) perfectly suited to the music (as opposed to works in which he hasn’t a clue, i.e., Schumann symphonies). As some of these works near the century mark, there are still many who find them difficult and impenetrable. Karajan sheds light by bringing all the varied motifs to the surface while maintaining a coherent balance. This is especially so in the Schoenberg Variations, a piece that can sound drearily academic. But here we are consistently compelled to keep listening for the next ingenious orchestral effect. What’s more, Karajan finds real feeling in this music, a quality that is conspicuously absent from Pierre Boulez’s Erato recording, however brilliantly played by the Chicago Symphony.

The Berg Three Pieces for Orchestra is played with a ferocity not found in most interpretations, even James Levine’s excellent Metropolitan Opera Orchestra performance on Sony Classical. The final brass flourish is amazingly detailed. The chilling sound of the Berlin strings in the three Lyric Suite pieces is reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann’s music for the film Psycho. In Webern’s Passacaglia the orchestral timbres are brightly lit and fully fleshed out–from the hushed solo flute in the beginning to the snarling brass at the climax. The original set also included the best-ever performance of Webern’s Six Pieces for Orchestra. So far Deutsche Grammophon has not seen fit to include it in its “Originals” series. Has it been consigned to oblivion? Let’s hope not. The sound, significantly more transparent than on the previous remastering, is not hi-fi in the modern sense, but perfectly suits the character of the performances and makes a terrific impact. Even if you are not new to this music, and especially if you are, this is a must-have.

-- Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday

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ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 8

Remember Herbert von Karajan? Perhaps it was inevitable that after his death his reputation would fall into something of an eclipse, but given the size of his discography the classical music world’s shortness of memory is rather breathtaking. Make no mistake: he was a great conductor, though not necessarily in the repertoire he recorded most frequently. But thanks to Arkivmusic.com’s “on demand” program, some of his best titles remain available to a new generation of collectors. Here is one.

Karajan reportedly felt so strongly about his recordings of the Second Viennese School that he agreed to finance them himself when DG balked at picking up the tab. These are great performances, to be sure. Indeed, there may be some others that are comparable, but none are superior. The Berg pieces never have sounded so decadently beautiful, nor the Webern so passionately intense, or the Schoenberg so, well, just plain listenable. The Berlin Philharmonic strings make their usual luscious sounds, but here the winds, brass, and even percussion rise to the occasion as well. And sonically these were always some of Karajan’s best efforts. Essential, then, and a perfect way to get to know these three composers on a single disc.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

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More info & reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Webern-Passacaglia-Schoenberg-Variations-Orchestra/dp/B000031WYL

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Arnold Schoenberg (13 September 1874 – 13 July 1951) was an Austrian composer, leader of the Second Viennese School. Schoenberg was known early in his career for simultaneously extending the traditionally opposed German Romantic styles of Brahms and Wagner. Later, his name would come to personify innovations in atonality that would become the most polemical feature of 20th-century art music. In the 1920s, Schoenberg developed the twelve-tone technique, an influential compositional method of manipulating an ordered series of all twelve notes in the chromatic scale.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schoenberg

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Anton Webern (3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer and conductor. Along with his mentor Arnold Schoenberg and his colleague Alban Berg, Webern comprised the core among those within and more peripheral to the circle of the Second Viennese School. Webern's compositions are concise, distilled, and select; just thirty-one of his compositions were published in his lifetime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Webern

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Alban Berg (February 9, 1885 – December 24, 1935) was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique. He is considered to have brought more "human values" to the twelve-tone system, his works seen as more "emotional" than Schoenberg's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alban_Berg

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Herbert von Karajan (5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 35 years. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century. He made a large number of recordings and was the top-selling classical music recording artist of all time, having sold an estimated 200 million records. He was admired and also criticized for his over polished sound of the orchestras he conducted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_von_Karajan

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