Schoenberg's Sheen

[Luke]

Actually, he might not, I'm thinking of the Serenade, not the Suite. But her'es the google book, anyway:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VsaFwzCMNa4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=malcolm+macdonald+schoenberg&source=bl&ots=VvSBASeoKZ&sig=N8xUdAbak_n9yXQ8G6J6TQQSDlc&hl=en&ei=qzUzTIH9N5Ki0gSph4WhAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAg#v=snippet&q=suite%20op%2029&f=false

[Luke]

No, he does - page 216/7 of the book I linked to - it's the 'folksong' Annchen von Tharau, actually a song by Friedrich Silcher.

[karlhenning]

Actually, he might not, I'm thinking of the Serenade, not the Suite. But her'es the google book, anyway:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VsaFwzCMNa4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=malcolm+macdonald+schoenberg&source=bl&ots=VvSBASeoKZ&sig=N8xUdAbak_n9yXQ8G6J6TQQSDlc&hl=en&ei=qzUzTIH9N5Ki0gSph4WhAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAg#v=snippet&q=suite%20op%2029&f=false

Interesting, there's a footnote to p.102 calling them 'folksong variations'. Thanks!

(And our posts crossed, thanks again!)

[Luke]

Interesting, there's a footnote to p.102 calling them 'folksong variations'. Thanks!

(And our posts crossed, thanks again!)

yes - I was just writing to say, hope you saw that last one! They aren't folksong variations, even though they often go by that name (he evidently says so himself on page 102, then goes on to correct himself on page 217!)

[karlhenning]

BTW, apart from simple enjoyment of the 'saturation listening' recently, the two Kammersymphonien have really gotten right in amongst me now, and they are well up there with my favorite Schoenberg.

[Luke]

The first one always was amongst mine. I used to listen to it endlessly as a student (and, in passing, is there anything more unabashedly romantic in twentieth century music than the slow movement of that piece....but never, ever, self-indulgent, every note is perfect, perfectly judged and balanced as is the whole symphony, and the way the movement is framed, with that 4th-dominated introductory passage paraphrasing the introduction of the whole symphony in slow motion, is simply wondrous...). Been listening again in the last few days - we have so much to thank Saul for, reanimating the Schoenberg bug amongst so many of us to this extent!

[Scarpia]

I've noticed that most of the used or steeply discounted copies of Schoenberg recordings that were in my Amazon shopping cart now indicate sold out.  I think we've created a run on Schoenberg comparable to the run on the Hugh Bean recording of the Elgar VC that Elgarian triggered earlier this spring.   

However, I did secure a copy of this long out-of-print recording. 



It is available as an arkivmusic cdr, but I got a copy of the proper cd in excellent condition.  I'm curious about that quintet.

[karlhenning]

The quintet is an element in a now-much-dwindled set of Schoenberg pieces I've never heard.

[Luke]

It's a real ear-tingler, but it's Schoenberg at his most inpenetrable, there's no denying it. Rewarding, though.

[Franco]

I like the Wind Quintet quite a lot and have a couple of recordings from LPs, Boston Sym. players and I think members of the Philadelphia Orch.  Both from the '60s I believe. (I'm not at home so I can't be more specific, sorry.)

What I especially respond to with the WQ is the texture, significantly more transparent than in the string ensemble works.

[Scarpia]

I was close to ordering this set, complete chamber music for strings.



I  was ultimately turned off because a significant fraction of it consists of works transcribed for strings (like the wind quintet, piano pieces, chamber symphonies, etc).  I wish there was a pared down version which contained works actually written for strings.

[karlhenning]

I"m thinking about fetching in the Leipzig Quartet recordings of the quartets and Verklärte Nacht.

[karlhenning]

I was close to ordering this set, complete chamber music for strings.



I  was ultimately turned off because a significant fraction of it consists of works transcribed for strings (like the wind quintet, piano pieces, chamber symphonies, etc).  I wish there was a pared down version which contained works actually written for strings.

Oh, I may do this, instead!  I think the extras (which seem to have dissuaded you, Scarps) are actually value added:  Webern's arrangement of the first Kammersymphonie for piano quintet, especially.

[Luke]

Oh, I may do this, instead!  I think the extras (which seem to have dissuaded you, Scarps) are actually value added:  Webern's arrangement of the first Kammersymphonie for piano quintet, especially.

Me too - looking at it and salivating right now, actually!

[Franco]

I've got it and find the transcriptions particularly interesting - the rest of the set is on a high level as well.

[Luke]

Wowzers, it looks so tempting. Expensive mind you. I already have the piano trio version of Verklarte Nacht (arr. Steuermann, right?), and of course all the other standard pieces, but the other arrangments look too good to miss. One of the smaller things I love about Schoenberg and his circle was how they opened up and made acceptable the art of the arrangment simply by the quality with which they did it. This is a sore temptation, I tells ya...

[not edward]

If that's the Chandos set with the Schoenberg Quartet, I think it had rather distinctly lukewarm reviews. That's what stopped me buying it, anyway.

I should give the Wind Quintet another spin some time. I generally wax quite a bit cooler on Schoenberg's middle-period "serial technique contained within classical structures" pieces as I feel they constrain the composer's boundless invention too much, but given that Schulte/Craft and Hahn/Salonen have finally convinced me of the worth of the Violin Concerto, maybe this is a good time to revisit the recording I have, a Japanese Denon issue with utterly minor performers: Nicolet, Holliger, Brunner, Thunemann and Vlatkovic.

[Luke]

Do you think I can bill Saul for the dozen Schoenberg discs I have bought this evening? Wouldn't have happened without him!

[Scarpia]

Do you think I can bill Saul for the dozen Schoenberg discs I have bought this evening? Wouldn't have happened without him!

Couldn't sneak one Mendelssohn disc in there?

[Luke]

I nearly listened to some Mendelssohn the other day. Got the disc off the shelf and everything. Isn't that enough?