Arnold Schoenberg: Serenade/Five Pieces For Orchestra

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Schoenberg's Serenade is comparable to Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale. Both works are effective modernist parodies of classical genres. But unlike Stravinsky, Schoenberg's treatments of marches and waltzes are never coolly burlesque, but hyper expressive--indeed, expressionist. Pierre Boulez conducts his Ensemble InterContemporain, underlining the music's prickly sonorities and metallic edges. In his interpretation, the expertly separated timbres are the hinge of the composition. Also on the disc is a classic reading of the Five Pieces for Orchestra and the curious Ode to Napoleon, a work for ensemble with narrator. --Joshua Cody

Arnold Schoenberg: Serenade/Five Pieces For Orchestra, Music, Philippe Muller, Pierre Strauch, Guy Arnaud, Michel Arrignon, Arnold Schoenberg, Pierre Boulez, Ensemble InterContemporain [members of], Marie-Therese Ghirardi, Andre Saint-Clivier, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Alain Neveux, Gerard Causse, Jacques Ghestem, Sylvie Gazeau, John Shirley-Quirk, 20th/21st Century Orchestral Music, Chamber, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Miscellaneous, Music with Spoken Words, Orchestral, Septet for Mixed Instruments without Keyboard
Arnold Schoenberg: Serenade/Five Pieces For Orchestra
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • I guess I'm not as sophisticated as all of you...
  • A convert
  • Excellent performance
  • A Devastating Five Pieces - A desert island CD
  • BUY IT
 Arnold Schoenberg: Serenade/Five Pieces For Orchestra

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:
  1. Schoenberg: The String Quartets
  2. Arnold Schoenberg: Suite, Op. 29, for 2 Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, Violin, Viola, Cello & Piano / Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 (Sextet for 2 Violins, 2 Violas & 2 Celli) - Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez
  3. Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No1; Die Jacobsleiter
  4. Schoenberg - Die Glückliche Hand · Variations for Orchestra, Op.31 · Verklärte Nacht / Nimsgern · BBC Orch. · NY Phil. · Boulez
  5. Berg: Chamber Concerto; Three Orchestral Pieces, Op. 6; Violin Concerto

ASIN: B000002818
Release Date: 1993-07-13

Tracks:

  1. Serenade, Op. 24: I. Marsch
  2. Serenade, Op. 24: II. Menuett
  3. Serenade, Op. 24: III. Variationen
  4. Serenade, Op. 24: IV. Sonett Von Petrarca: 'O Konnt' Ich Je Der Rach' An Ihr Genesen'
  5. Serenade, Op. 24: V. Tanzscene
  6. Serenade, Op. 24: VI. Lied (Ohne Worte)
  7. Serenade, Op. 24: VII. Finale
  8. 5 Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16: I. Vorgefuhle
  9. 5 Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16: II. Vergangenes
  10. 5 Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16: III. Farben
  11. 5 Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16: IV. Peripetie
  12. 5 Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16: V. Das Obligate Rezitativ
  13. Ode To Napoleon Buonaparte, Op. 41

Amazon.com

Schoenberg's Serenade is comparable to Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale. Both works are effective modernist parodies of classical genres. But unlike Stravinsky, Schoenberg's treatments of marches and waltzes are never coolly burlesque, but hyper expressive--indeed, expressionist. Pierre Boulez conducts his Ensemble InterContemporain, underlining the music's prickly sonorities and metallic edges. In his interpretation, the expertly separated timbres are the hinge of the composition. Also on the disc is a classic reading of the Five Pieces for Orchestra and the curious Ode to Napoleon, a work for ensemble with narrator. --Joshua Cody

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars I guess I'm not as sophisticated as all of you..........2006-09-20

Depth? Genius? This stuff sounds like your watching an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. Its like the background sound effects when Yosemite Sam steps on a rake or Daffy does a double-take. Imagine being Ray Charles or Andrea Bocelli and "watching" old cartoons: it's the same experience. But in this case, I'd rather be Marlee Matlin.

5 out of 5 stars A convert.......2006-05-09

I would like to speak in regards to what some reviewers are saying about the works of Schoenberg. I will admit that the first time I heard Schoenberg, I wrote him off as weird music that I would never like and was not worth listening to. In my defense, the first work I heard was "Pierrot Lunaire" which is a very hard work to understand. But I was assigned a paper of the Second Viennese School and its influences for music history and was forced to really listen to these works among others by much more extreme composers like Boulez and Cage (who I have yet to understand, but I am still young!) Once I stopped grumbling about how much I hated serialism and let myself really HEAR the music, I started to understand it and gained a begrudging respect for Schoenberg, which became a genuine liking. So in light of this, I dare anyone who is so willing to bash Schoenberg outright to really listen to his works and the works of those he influenced with an open mind and see if you can't at least respect the music for what it is.

5 out of 5 stars Excellent performance.......2006-03-25

Having owned nearly all avaliable recordings of all Schonberg, I have found all of Boulez's recordings on Sony to my favorite.

It has been 3 yrs now that I first discovered Schonberg and my love for his music grows more everyday, high genius indeed.
I love almost everything he wrote, but as to his Pelleas, even Schonberg said he was only satisfied with the last part.

Now as to A Music Fan's comments on his This Music Stinks and Ong's in his World comming to an end, this might have been something I wrote back in my early to mid years of adventures in classical music, say 1980-2001.
But you see I grew in a psychological sense and my awareness of what great art is, had made a profound transition into the modern era.
(read all my reviews)

But for some to give either a vote of "no, not helpful", shows we still have way too many under the 13 year olds clicking the vote buttons.
Why even click the vote?
Sure I realize you strongly disagree with both, that you love Schonberg as much as I, maybe more, which I doubt, so why even bother with these 2 who may not ever come to know Schonberg while upon this earth.
That in itself is a big loss to their experience in life.

I see the same youths post on my reviews a "no, not helpful".
Well if you disagree with either Ong and A Music fan, write your own rebuttal to these 2 guys.
Just don't click a button , write a commen of your appreciation for Schonberg's genius.

The old form is clashing with the new. As the romantic and classical eras must give way to 20th century music, I forsee some contentions at the ineviatable changes that are about to occur.
Sure some will want to atke it to battle, as the other side really does not want to give up an inch of its power.
Thus, don't expect many of us modern fans to be at your shows.
The attendance numbers will dwindle, profits will shrink.
If you give us what we want, which is an all modern program, once in awhile, we'll gladly pay the price of the ticket.
Otherwise have fun at YOUR "program".

5 out of 5 stars A Devastating Five Pieces - A desert island CD.......2005-07-15

I still remember the first time I heard this recording of Boulez conducting the Five Pieces. I had heard the work before but the degree of electricity here was something that came as a complete shock to me. From the first note to last this Five Pieces is totally devastating. This is a performance that makes Schoenberg's Mahlerian heritage absolutely clear only he is so much more concentrated and focused in his delivery that the results for me are just shattering. The rapport that Boulez enjoyed with the BBC orchestra at this time is something I have always marvelled at but this takes it to another level. Of course the inner movements are also allowed moments of hushed poetic repose but the outer movements really do remind me of what Robert Craft said of the final pages of the last of the Five Pieces - that it was the greatest thing written in the twentieth century. That statement really surprised me and I think maybe it was a spur of the moment outburst but Boulez does a greater job than anybody of convincing me of its truth.

As for the Seranade, I love this performance. Schoenberg always had a great awareness of early music - perhaps inherited from Brahms. Webern of course even wrote his PhD thesis on Heinrich Isaac's Choralis Constantinus and in his writings Schoenberg refers to composers such as Josquin reasonably frequently. It is highly likely he was also familiar with the madrigals of the late Renaissance period, referred to the Seconda Prattica by Monteverdi. Poets such as Petrach and Tasso were popular amongst madrigal composers and the madrigalian feeling is even further accentuated by the use of instruments such as the mandolin for accompaniment making it sound even more like a twentieth century madrigal. It is a charming and enjoyable work, quirky and mercurial.

The final work on this CD is the Ode to Napolean in which Schoenberg spits vitriolic hatred at Hitler. I have always found Schoenberg's command of English language inflections to be less than perfect - you can hear a slight German accent in the Sprechstimme. Musically by this time Schoenberg starts to also sound increasingly more and more like Brahms and the opening statement by the string quartet and piano has a theme vaguely reminiscent of the opening of the finale of the Brahms Opus 25 G minor piano quartet (the one Schoenberg transcribed for orchestra)! Boulez has always been critical of this tendency in the later Schoenberg but I must confess to liking it. The work is a tour de force - fiery and passionate, yet uplifting and hugely appealling such that I am always surprised it is not played more often, especially when it pays such glowing hommage in the closing passages to George Washington.

All in all this is a desert island CD for me - most especially for the Five Pieces, which is one of the greatest performances of anything I have yet to hear.

5 out of 5 stars BUY IT.......2001-02-28

Somebody who dislikes the music presented on this CD wouldn't know good modern classical music if it smacked him/her across the face. This is quite a statement, I understand, but this music is simply brilliant - particularly 5 Pieces for Orchestra (perhas slightly less well-known than other Schoenberg works). This piece is a treatise on timbre that simply blows my mind. It relaxes you, enthralls you, terrifies you, and makes you very glad you spent the $11 on this CD. Buy it, and open your ears.
Schoenberg: Five Orchestra Pieces, Survivor from Warsaw
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • esssential schoenberg
 Schoenberg: Five Orchestra Pieces, Survivor from Warsaw

Manufacturer: Koch Int'l Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

SeptetsSeptets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
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General ModernGeneral Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
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Similar Items:
  1. Schönberg: Das Chorwerk
  2. Schoenberg - Die Glückliche Hand · Variations for Orchestra, Op.31 · Verklärte Nacht / Nimsgern · BBC Orch. · NY Phil. · Boulez
  3. Arnold Schoenberg: Serenade/Five Pieces For Orchestra
  4. Schoenberg: Piano Concerto

ASIN: B000001SHL
Release Date: 1995-02-21

Tracks:

  1. Five Pieces for Orchestra, Opus 16: I. Vorgefuhle
  2. Five Pieces for Orchestra, Opus 16: II. Vergangenes
  3. Five Pieces for Orchestra, Opus 16: III. Farben
  4. Five Pieces for Orchestra, Opus 16: IV. Peripetie
  5. Five Pieces for Orchestra, Opus 16: V. Das obligate Rezitativ
  6. A Survivor From Warsaw, Opus 64
  7. Accompaniment To A Cinematographic Scene, Opus 34: Threatening Danger, Fear, Catastrophe
  8. Herzgewaechse, Opus 20
  9. Serenade, Opus 24: Marsch
  10. Serenade, Opus 24: Menuett
  11. Serenade, Opus 24: Variationen
  12. Serenade, Opus 24: Sonett Nr. 217 con Petrarca
  13. Serenade, Opus 24: Tanzscene
  14. Serenade, Opus 24: Lied (ohne Worte)
  15. Serenade, Opus 24: Finale

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars esssential schoenberg.......2003-04-05

The blood-curdling vocal delivery of A Survivor from Warsaw (Opus 46) is not easy to do; this is the best recording I've heard. The rest, especially 5 Pieces for Orchestra (Opus 16), is Schoenberg you need to hear. Herzegewaesche (in english, the foliage of the heart) is so tragically beautiful. The other 2 pieces on this very important CD of Schoenberg, Opus 34 & 24, are as intense as you would expect from him. Every wild note hits home. Every wild note makes a powerful point.

Music Review:

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  4. Ballet Class Music from New York City: Music from Company Class, Vol. 2
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  6. Beethoven: Piano Concertos No. 2 & 3
  7. Beethoven: The Late String Quartets
  8. Bernstein Century - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, etc.
  9. Bernstein Conducts Bernstein
  10. Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem Op.45

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