Schoenberg - Moses und Aron / Pittman-Jennings · Merritt · Boulez

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
In every respect, this Netherlands Opera production of Schoenberg's problematic yet most personal stage work outclasses Pierre Boulez's 1974 BBC recording on Sony. The conductor elicits staggeringly precise yet supple and flexible playing from the Concertgebouw, quite different from the stentorian sheen of Sir Georg Solti/Chicago, even though the all-important chorus is heard to better advantage in the latter. As Moses, David Pittman-Jennings's eloquent Sprechtstimme emphasizes the intensity of his character's inner vision rather than his outward frustration. Chris Merritt's Aron, though, is marred by a wobbly high tessitura. While the perfect Moses und Aron still eludes our grasp, DG's superb engineering allows more of the uncompromising score to be heard than ever before. --Jed Distler

Schoenberg - Moses und Aron / Pittman-Jennings · Merritt · Boulez, Music, Arnold Schoenberg, Pierre Boulez, David Pittman-Jennings, Chris Merritt, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, John Graham Hall, Laszlo Polgar, Siegfried Lorenz, Gabriele Fontana, Franziska Hirzel, Yvonne Naef, Classical, Classical Music, German/Austrian 20th/21st Century Opera, Opera, Opera / Operetta / Oratorio, Opera/Operetta
Schoenberg - Moses und Aron / Pittman-Jennings · Merritt · Boulez
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Superb 20th Century Opera
  • enigmatic
  • Certainly the Best Realization of Schoenberg's Opera...
  • Superb opera
  • A Triumph
 Schoenberg - Moses und Aron / Pittman-Jennings · Merritt · Boulez
John Graham Hall , Laszlo Polgar , Siegfried Lorenz , Gabriele Fontana , Franziska Hirzel , and Yvonne Naef
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000001GRQ
Release Date: 1996-10-15

Tracks:

  1. Moses Und Aron: Act One - Einleitung (Sehr langsam)
  2. Moses Und Aron: Act One - Scene 1: Einziger, ewiger, allgegenwartiger
  3. Moses Und Aron: Act One - Scene 2: Du Sohn meiner Vater
  4. Moses Und Aron: Act One - 3. Szene: Ich hab' ihn gesehn
  5. Moses Und Aron: Act One - 4. Szene: Bringt ihr Erhorung
  6. Moses Und Aron: Act One - 4. Szene: Der Einzige, Ewige, Allmachtige
  7. Moses Und Aron: Act One - 4. Szene: Schliesset die Augen
  8. Moses Und Aron: Act One - 4. Szene: Allmachtiger, meine Kraft ist zu Ende
  9. Moses Und Aron: Act One - 4. Szene: Ein Wunder erfullt uns mit Schrecken
  10. Moses Und Aron: Act One - 4. Szene: Dein Stab zwingt uns
  11. Moses Und Aron: Act One - 4. Szene: Alles fur die Freiheit
  12. Moses Und Aron: Act One - 4. Szene: Er hat uns auserwahlt

Tracks:

  1. Moses Und Aron: Act One - 4. Szene: Zwischenspiel, Wo ist Moses?
  2. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 1. Szene: Vierzig Tage liegen wir nun schon hier!
  3. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 2. Szene: Wo ist Moses?
  4. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 3. Szene: Diese Bild bezeugt
  5. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 3. Szene: Tanz der Schlachter - Dance Of The Butchers
  6. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 3. Szene: O Gotterbild, du strahlst
  7. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 3. Szene: Frei unter eigenen Herren
  8. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 3. Szene: Orgie der Trunkenheit und des Tanzes - Orgy Of Drunkenness And Dancing
  9. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 3. Szene: Selig ist das Volk - Orgy Of Destruction And Suicide
  10. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 3. Szene: Du goldener Gott
  11. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 3. Szene: Erotische Orgie - Erotic Orgy
  12. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 4. Szene: Moses steigt vom Berg herab
  13. Moses Und Aron: Act Two - 5. Szene: Aron, was hast du getan?

Amazon.com essential recording

In every respect, this Netherlands Opera production of Schoenberg's problematic yet most personal stage work outclasses Pierre Boulez's 1974 BBC recording on Sony. The conductor elicits staggeringly precise yet supple and flexible playing from the Concertgebouw, quite different from the stentorian sheen of Sir Georg Solti/Chicago, even though the all-important chorus is heard to better advantage in the latter. As Moses, David Pittman-Jennings's eloquent Sprechtstimme emphasizes the intensity of his character's inner vision rather than his outward frustration. Chris Merritt's Aron, though, is marred by a wobbly high tessitura. While the perfect Moses und Aron still eludes our grasp, DG's superb engineering allows more of the uncompromising score to be heard than ever before. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Superb 20th Century Opera.......2007-01-11

'Moses und Aron', the opera by Arnold Schoenberg is, to my inexperienced ears, the most distinctively 20th Century Opera I have heard (with the understanding that I have certainly not heard every one, especially not Berg's famous 'Lulu'). Not only is it relatively free of 19th century Wagnerian influences, it has some distinct family resemblences to 20th century popular German musical drama, especially that of Kurt Weill. One very noteworthy fact is that Schoenberg wrote both the music and the libretto, and the result seems, to my ear, to be one of the few German operatic pieces which did not sound as if the artists were trying to imitate Italian opera buffo (Even Mozart did that!).
The directions for singing the libretto is so modern it almost sounds like the sound track to a Robert Altman flick, where several voices are speaking at the same time. I certainly recommend this work over roughly contemporary operatic works by Stravinsky such as 'The Rake's Progress' and 'Oedipus Rex' from his 'neo-classical' period.

5 out of 5 stars enigmatic.......2005-05-13

Schoenberg had not completed this work,his life with the rise of racism/fascism in Europa had magnetized culture and its creation,aside from that Schoenberg was a bit ambivalent on the very concept of opera.He had a grphic imagination for the theatre,as his earlier:Survivor from Warsaw" and "Erwartung" attests, also his setting of various texts, "Hanging Gardens",but for an opera dealing with the Jewish faith had more a problematical element, the idea of not representing, the use of icons, all items opera thrives upon, imagery that "represents". The stage performances of this work have proved to be equally successful as the earlier stage productions and even a film. The alternate of Moses a sprechstimme role(half-speaking,half-singing) and Aron a singing role against the chorus is ample materials for this work. Boulez has lived with this work conducting it many times prior to this recording.And his usuall affinity for clarity is here, separating countrapuntal lines in the dense textures.The roles here are well portrayed the powerful authoritative earthy basso Moses to the more pedantic intellectual high strung tenor voice of Aron. Boulez makes this work modern as opposed to other interpretations.

5 out of 5 stars Certainly the Best Realization of Schoenberg's Opera..........2005-01-31


Certainly this is the best realization of Schoenberg's opera now available.

5 out of 5 stars Superb opera.......2003-11-16

This is one of the best operas written in 20th century.

And the best 12-tone work of Schoenberg (with his Variations for Orchestra)

What a performance. Pierre Boulez's this recording is better than his early Sony recording (made in 60's). This is a 4D recording, so the sound quality is excellent. This box set was won many awards: Orphee d'Or, Tokyo Best Recording of Year, Le Choc du Monde de la Musique etc.

And there are two booklets, the first includes reportage with Boulez, synopses, some photographs from live recording, and in second booklet there is a full libretto and these are in four languages.

Highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars A Triumph.......2001-01-20

Schoenberg's works have survived their moment of creation for more than fifty years . As such, they deserve the title "classical music". Yet, it has been mentioned before, that the second fastest way to clear a full concert hall is by shouting "fire". The fastest way: the whispering of "Schoenberg". Just read all the negative reviews, and you'll know why. I was fortunate enough to be guided through the realm of music by someone that exposed me to the likes of Schoenberg, Berio, Varese and Stockhausen from age 7 on. As such, their idiom never was alien to me. That doesn't mean that I immediately enjoyed listening to them, but that was the same for Mozart. It took me at least 12 years of exposure to finally fall for "the nose".

About Moses und Aron. Let's be simple, but not uneducated. If people look back at the compositions of the twentieth century in a distant future, and compose a top two of the greatest works, this would be my guess. 1. Richard Strauss' Methamorphosen: the least politically correct piece of art in human history. 2. Arnold Schoenberg's Moses: the most successful encounter of the realms of music and religion, since the Mozart Requiem.

The human mind works by analogy and similar processes of comparison. As such both things that are purely abstract, take advanced math, and things that are unprecedented, like Schoenberg's twelve tone system, do not induce an immediate feeling of pleasing esthetics. How could you possibly like something that does not have a tune, or even harmony? By a learning process. After proper education, it's often more beautiful, the more abstract it becomes. Just listen to Bach's "Art of the Fugue".

While the story line of "Moses" is not abstract, its subject matter and language are. As a result this is not music for the millions, or included in the series music for your Baby's Brain. A category in which it should probably be included. This recording contains the best rendition of any of Schoenberg's works that I have encountered. By being precise, musical, dramatic, but never overbearing it is simply ideal. Even without a score it does not take more than a couple of playings to get a sense of the structure of the work, and the composer's technique of variation. Our friends at the Holland festival put a big chunk of change aside for the rehearsal, and the recorded results are spectacular. In addition, this is the best operatic recording that I own. Let Schoenberg open your ears and mind, and nourish your soul.

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