Track Listing

1. Suite, Op. 29: Ouvertüre
2. Suite, Op. 29: Tanzschritte
3. Suite, Op. 29: Thema Mit Variationen
4. Suite, Op. 29: Gigue
5. Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4
6. 3 Pieces for Chamber Orchestra: Rasche Viertel
7. 3 Pieces for Chamber Orchestra: Mäßige Viertel
8. 3 Pieces for Chamber Orchestra: Gehende Viertel

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100460 in Music
• Released on: 1993-07-13
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

5-Stars Just for being in Print...
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With the dearth of Schoenberg recordings, gotta give this CD 5-stars simply for being in print.

Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporain are great. The disc has the Verklärte Nacht curse--that is, nearly every Schoenberg CD has Verklärte Nacht on it! However, this features the original sextet version which is interesting for the timber alone. Cf. Brahms' two string sextets, and Reger's if you can find it.

The Suite for septet, however, is quintessential Schoenberg and must not be missed.

Razor-sharp 12-tone hardcore work, features curious sonic effects with the three clarinets and specialized techinques with the three stringed instruments: col legno (using the wood of the bow for tapping or bowing on the strings or body of the instrument); glissandi (sliding down the strings); extensive pizzicato (plucking the strings), etc.
Noted old binary dance steps give the work the appearance of something like Decadent/Expressionistic Austrian jazz: very scary, and very Schönbergian.

See:
Schoenberg: Suite / Wind Quintet
for an excellent Septet with the great Wind Quintet. Was out of print; recently reissued.
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A distinctly eclectic Schoenberg collection
This disc, one of a number rereleasing Pierre Boulez's 1970s and 1980s recordings of much of Schoenberg's work, forms a rather curious collection. Centred around what is probably Schoenberg's most-played work, the popular Verklärte Nacht (though heard here in the less common version for string sextet), the disc also takes in two of his less-well-known works, the Suite, op 29 (also known as the Septet) and the minute Three Pieces for Chamber Orchestra, never published in the composer's lifetime.

The Suite is one of the more extreme examples of Schoenberg attempting to combine a rigorous treatment of his new serial style with traditional musical forms. Scored for two clarinets, bass clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano, it was written between 1924 and 1926 and is largely based on dance forms. The Overture is in three sections and is often hard-driven, though quieter interludes provide lyric relief. The second movement is vigorous and vibrantly rhythmic, and is entitled Tanzschritte (Dance Steps). The third movement is a wide-ranging set of variations that even takes time to quote a (tonal) song by Silcher, while the finale departs from orthodox serial practice by using the tone row (and its inversion) as the major melodic material. This isn't major Schoenberg, but it's also a much better work than one might think from the bad press it's had in the past. This performance is technically excellent, though I think sometimes Boulez pushes the music a little too hard, leaving it lacking a sense of repose in the slower sections.

The 1899 work Verklärte Nacht is, of course, one of the few pieces of Schoenberg to have become a popular concert hall favourite. Its musical language is luminously post-Brahmsian, and the complex structure of its single movement is easy to relate to models from the past (for example the Wanderer Fantasy, or the Liszt sonata). I prefer the string sextet version recorded here to the later version for string orchestra, but this performance lacks the last edge of lyrical intensity that is so necessary to bring across the work's rather heated emotional atmosphere.

The Three Pieces for Chamber Orchestra were written around 1910 but only found after a search of Schoenberg's papers after his death. Each of them lasts under a minute, and the most interesting is the unfinished third, which bears considerable technical and expressive similarities to the third of the Five Orchestral Pieces.

With so many recordings available of Verklärte Nacht, this disc cannot be recommended for that work. However, collectors seeking the Suite and/or the Three Orchestral Pieces have far fewer options, and at the comparatively low price this collection is worth considering.