Track Listing

1. Im Sommerwind
2. Passacaglia Op.1
3. Six Orchestral Pieces Op.6
4. Five Orchestral Pieces Op.10
5. Symphony Op.21
6. Concerto Op.24
7. Variations Op.30

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #412733 in Music
• Released on: 2006-05-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Customer Reviews

exquisite, pellucid, yet enigmatic miniatures
Webern's "Symphony" (Op. 21) is like light passing through a slowly revolving prism, revealing hues you've never seen before. Following his "Passacaglia" (Op. 1), which clarifies doesn't break with the Romanticism of Brahms, Webern composed four masterful orchestral miniatures. "6 Pieces" (Op. 6) and "5 Pieces" (Op. 10) are incredibly brief, in the atonal style pioneered by Webern's teacher Arnold Schoenberg. They met with quite different fates -- the "6 Pieces" provoked a "Le Sacre"-style riot at its Vienna premiere in 1913, and Webern fled into hiding. The "5 Pieces" wasn't publicly performed until 1924, at a festival in Zurich, 10 years after it was written. It was widely acclaimed, establishing Webern's international reputation. (Thanks to John Keillor for these details.) His masterpieces, in my opinion, are the serial works -- "Symphony" (Op. 21) and "Variations" (Op. 30). Despite their brevity, (under 5 minutes and 7 minutes respectively), these are two of the greatest compositions of the 20th century. Webern here developed Schoenberg's 12-tone rows into something more beautiful than anything his teacher created. These works, along with the String Trio and Quartet (Op. 20 and Op. 28), became the main influence on the "Darmstadt School" of the 1950s (Boulez, Ligeti, Nono, Stockhausen, & company).

This disc is one of two that collect Webern's orchestral works. While Sinopoli and the Staatskapelle Dresden are better recorded, with Teldec's signature sound, I give Dohnanyi and Cleveland a slight edge in interpretation (see my review). Dohnanyi achieves a smooth, homogenous texture, while Sinopoli creates wider dynamics and a greater separation of instruments. Dohnanyi's Webern is abstract, cold and restrained, while Sinopoli's Webern is more emotional, warmer, and lusher by comparison, a reading that consciously emphasizes the continuity with Mahler. The two discs contain the same material, with one exception -- Dohnanyi includes Webern's arrangement of Bach's "Fuga Ricercata a 6", a fascinating exercise in pointillism which breaks the music into constituent cells. Sinopoli instead includes the "Concerto" (Op. 24), a Bach-influenced composition from the same period.

The Dohnanyi booklet contains a great photo of Webern, with a tragic expression absolutely apropos to the music. The original Sinopoli/Teldec booklet featured a photo of an amazing nature sculpture by the British artist Andy Goldsworthy, but this Elatus reissue has replaced that with a less unique black-and-white nature photo.

Hear this Sinopoli, or the Dohnanyi, or both, but don't miss Webern's orchestral music, some of the best of the 20th century!

Wonderful CD that should win Webern new friends
I've been a friend of Anton Webern's music for years. Alban Berg can get a bit heavy going with his Mahlerian antics and Schoenberg... well his desperation in trying to fuse German tradition with atonality doesn't connect with me. It's heavy-handed and insufferably pedantic at times. The Schoenberg works I like most apart from Verklarte Nacht are the solo piano pieces.

Webern seems like the most natural and original of the three. When you listen to works that span a couple of minutes, movements that span 45 seconds, relying as much on silence and quietude as Mahler and Strauss relied on noise, you realize this is as far away from late romanticism as music had strayed at the time. Sinopoli's style is not clinical and it's not too lush either. He captures a firm middle ground between Boulez and perhaps Karajan. However, no one does the Passacaglia better than Karajan in my opinion, it's terrifyingly expressive.

In Sommerwind is a fairly bland late romantic piece moulded in Impressionism. For me it's a chore to sit through, others might be thrilled by it. Reminded me of a modern spin on Frederick Delius. The later, shorter works ( symphony, orchestral pieces ) are where Sinopoli shines and his orchestra is top of the line in every respect. The recorded sound is of fine digital quality. You should turn it up loud to get the most out of it's dynamic range. If you haven't ventured into Webern, this CD might be the best place to start. No vocal stuff here, just a collection of orchestral works by one of the most original modernists around.