Information
Composer: Arnold Schoenberg; Franz Schubert
- Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht, for string sextet, Op. 4: Sehr langsam (Stanza 1)
- Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht, for string sextet, Op. 4: Etwas bewegter (Stanza 2)
- Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht, for string sextet, Op. 4: Schwer betont (Stanza 3)
- Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht, for string sextet, Op. 4: Sehr breit und langsam (Stanza 4)
- Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht, for string sextet, Op. 4: Sehr ruhig (Stanza 5)
- Schubert - String (Cello) Quintet in C major, D. 956 (Op. posth. 163): 1. Allegro ma non troppo
- Schubert - String (Cello) Quintet in C major, D. 956 (Op. posth. 163): 2. Adagio
- Schubert - String (Cello) Quintet in C major, D. 956 (Op. posth. 163): 3. Scherzo (Presto) - Trio (Andante sostenuto)
- Schubert - String (Cello) Quintet in C major, D. 956 (Op. posth. 163): 4. Allegretto
Alvin Dinkin, viola (1-5)
Kurt Reher, cello
Hollywood String Quartet
Felix Slatkin, violin
Paul Shure, violin
Paul Robyn, viola
Eleanor Aller Slatkin, cello
Date: 1950 (1-5), 1951 (6-9)
Label: Testament
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This is the premier recording of Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht for string sextet and the composer himself wrote the liner notes for LP release:
At the end of the Nineteenth Century the foremost representatives of the Zeitgeist (Spirit of the times) in poetry were Detlev von Liliencron, Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Dehmel. But in music, after Brahms' death, many young composers followed the example of Richard Strauss by composing 'programme' music. This explains the origin of Verklärte Nacht: it is "programme" music, illustrating and giving musical expression to the poem from "Weib und Welt" by Richard Dehmel.
However, my composition was perhaps somehow different from other illustrative compositions, first by not being for orchestra, but for a chamber group; second, because it does not illustrate any action or drama, but was restricted to portray nature and to express human emotions. It seems that, due to this attitude, my composition has gained qualities which can satisfy even if one does not know what it illustrates; or, in other words, it can be appreciated as "pure" music. Thus, perhaps, it can make you forget the poem which many people today might call repulsive.
Nevertheless, much of the poem deserves appreciation because of its highly poetic presentation of the emotions aroused by the beauty of nature, and for the distinguished moral attitude in dealing with a staggeringly difficult human problem.
Promenading in a park on a clear, cold moonlight night, the wife confesses a tragedy to the man in a dramatic outburst. She had married a man whom she did not love. She was unhappy and lonely in this marriage, but forced herself to remain faithful, and finally, obeying the maternal instinct, she is now with child from the man she does not love. She even had considered herself praiseworthy for fulfilling her duty toward the demands of nature. A climactic ascension expresses her self-accusation of her great sin. In desperation she now walks beside the man with whom she has fallen in love, fearing his sentence will destroy her. But "the voice of a man speaks, a man whose generosity is as sublime as his love."
The first half of the composition ends in E flat minor of which, as a transition, only B flat remains, in order to connect with the extreme contrast in D major.
Harmonics, adorned by muted runs, express the beauty of the moonlight and introduce, above a glittering accompaniment, a secondary theme which soon changes into a duet between violin and 'cello. This section reflects the mood of a man whose love, in harmony with the splendour and radiance of nature, is capable of ignoring the tragic situation: "The child you bear must not be a burden to your soul."
Having reached a climax, this duet is connected by a transition with a new theme. Its melody, expressing the "warmth that flows from one of us into the other," the warmth of love, is followed by repetitions and elaborations of preceding themes. It leads finally to another new theme which corresponds to the man's dignified resolution: this warmth "will transfigure your child" so as to become "my own." An ascension leads to a climax, a repetition of the second part of the man's theme.
A long coda section concludes the work. Its material consists of themes of the preceding parts, all of them modified anew, so as to glorify the miracles of nature that have changed this night of tragedy into a transfigured night.
It should not be forgotten that this work, at its first performance in Vienna, was hissed and caused riots and fist fights. But it soon became very successful.
-- Arnold Schoenberg, 1950
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Review
This 1950 recording remains the finest version of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht yet recorded, at least in the original sextet version. The composer himself contributed the notes to the original release and endorsed the interpretation, and Schoenberg was notoriously cranky and difficult to please. He insisted that the ensemble play the work for him privately before agreeing to give the recording his seal of approval.
The Hollywood String Quartet was an amazing ensemble. Composed of studio musicians, they specialized in contemporary music, and allied amazing versatility with strict classical training to achieve a stunning degree of ensemble precision and virtuosity. Perhaps that fact that the players (conductor Leonard Slatkin’s parents among them) were all studio musicians inspired them to work harder to be taken seriously. One of their sterling qualities was superb intonation, a critical factor in their success in playing highly chromatic music such as this, and one which prevents the music from turning into a murky sludge of slithery harmonies. The moment when the music achieves its “transfigured” key of D major is just spellbinding.
This performance of Schubert’s Quintet is also one of the great ones. Ideally paced (especially in the Adagio) and perfectly balanced between vigor and effortless lyricism, the interpretation is wholly idiomatic. The scherzo, for example, has the necessary rugged, rustic quality (sound clip), but it also demonstrates the players’ ability to “play hard” without sacrificing beauty of tone or ensemble balance. Recorded in 1951, a year after the Schoenberg, the sonics in both works have held up very well. Although dated, nothing comes between the listener and a visceral experience of the performances. This is unquestionably one of the great chamber music recordings. No serious collection should be without it.
One additional point: Roger Norrington likes to cite, as “evidence” for his spurious claim that string players in the early 20th century avoided vibrato, Schoenberg’s comparison of excessive vibrato to the braying of a billy goat. Aside from the fact that Schoenberg’s remarks, in context, mean something very different from what Norrington says they do, his endorsement of this performance belies any suggestion that he had an issue with vibrato. Not only do the Hollywood players employ it generously and audibly, the use of the technique actually contributes to the purity of intonation that is such a hallmark of their ensemble sound. The notion that vibrato, correctly used, adversely effects intonation is in fact false, and this disc proves it.
-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday
More reviews:
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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.
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Hollywood String Quartet was an American string quartet founded by violinist/conductor Felix Slatkin and his wife cellist Eleanor Aller in 1939 and disbanded in 1961. The Hollywood String Quartet is considered to be the first American-born and trained classical music chamber group to make an international impact, mainly through its landmark recordings. The Quartet sound has been acclaimed for its clarity of texture due in part to their excellent intonation.
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Great music. Sounds so good I can't believe it's mono.
ReplyDeleteActually *not* the premiere recording! There was, amazingly enough, an acoustic recording of VN made in 1925 by the Spencer Dyke String Quartet (plus two other players, obviously) which is worth hearing.
ReplyDeleteIncredible! Thanks for the information. I'm listening to it on Youtube right now.
DeleteThank you very much for keeping this historic recording available.
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