Track Listing

1. The Musical Offering (Musikalisches Opfer), for keyboard and chamber instruments, BWV 1079: Fuga (Ricercata) a 6 voci
2. String Quartet (1905)
3. Cantata No. 4, 'Christ lag in Todes Banden,' BWV 4 (BCA 54): Sinfonia - Versus I: Coro
4. Cantata No. 4, 'Christ lag in Todes Banden,' BWV 4 (BCA 54): Versus II: Duetto
5. Cantata No. 4, 'Christ lag in Todes Banden,' BWV 4 (BCA 54): Versus III: Aria
6. Cantata No. 4, 'Christ lag in Todes Banden,' BWV 4 (BCA 54): Versus IV: Coro
7. Cantata No. 4, 'Christ lag in Todes Banden,' BWV 4 (BCA 54): Versus V: Aria
8. Cantata No. 4, 'Christ lag in Todes Banden,' BWV 4 (BCA 54): Versus VI: Duetto - Versus VII: Choral
9. Movements (5) for string quartet, Op. 5: I. Heftig bewegt
10. Movements (5) for string quartet, Op. 5: II. Sehr langsam
11. Movements (5) for string quartet, Op. 5: III. Sehr lebhaft
12. Movements (5) for string quartet, Op. 5: IV. Sehr langsam
13. Movements (5) for string quartet, Op. 5: V. In zarter Bewegung
14. The Musical Offering (Musikalisches Opfer), for keyboard and chamber instruments, BWV 1079: Fuga (Ricercata) a 6 voci

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #246427 in Music
• Released on: 2003-04-01
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
If you liked Morimur, the intellectual examination of the so-called "hidden" chorales in Bach's Chaconne, then you'll buy the premise behind this CD as well. It purports to examine "connections and musical/spiritual affinities between Bach and Anton Webern," but it's probably a good idea to forget that, since it's close to incomprehensible, and the performances here are stunning enough not to be affected by a gimmick. Indeed, the Hilliard's one-voice-to-a-part reading of Bach's Cantata No. 4 is about as gorgeous, moving, and transparent a performance as you'll ever hear. Webern's arrangement of the fugue for six voices from Bach's Musical Offering (recorded at the start and end of the CD) is also beautifully played, this time by the Münchener Kammerorchester, and it is, indeed, a wonderful, rich arrangement. Two early works by Webern serve as part of the contents of the sandwich whose bread is the Musical Offering: the 1905 String Quartet, here orchestrated by Poppen, and Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5, which Webern himself orchestrated in 1930. The booklet explains something about life and death and the relationship between the key-structures of all the works here; if there had been no notes at all this would still be a beautiful CD. Music this well-played needs no excuse or relationship to anything, and the notes--and premise--are little more than frustrating. --Robert Levine