Boulez Conducts Webern, Vol. 3

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Webern (1883-1945) was practicing his own kind of atonality and serialism before he met Schoenberg. Schoenberg taught him that his serial principles could bring order to his work. This disc contains seven short works that reflect Webern's own experimental writing. This music is neither easy to play nor easy to listen to. The rewards are immense, however. Best here is Symphony, Op. 21, (1928) and Variations for Orchestra (1940), with "best" being practically meaningless. But you can hear the beginnings of 20th-century modernism in this music. Pierre Boulez, as usual, does what he can to make the music intelligent. Only for the brave. --Paul Cook

Tracks:

5 Pieces For Orchestra: I. Bewegt
5 Pieces For Orchestra: II. Langsam (Sostenuto)
5 Pieces For Orchestra: III. Sehr Bewegte Viertel
5 Pieces For Orchestra: IV. Langsame Viertel
5 Pieces For Orchestra: V. (Alla Breve)
3 Orchestral Songs: I. Leise Dufte
3 Orchestral Songs: II. Kunfttag III
3 Orchestral Songs: III. O Sanftes Gluhn Der Berge
Symphony, Op. 21: I. Ruhig Schreitend
Symphony, Op. 21: II. Variationen
Das Augenlicht, Op. 26
Cantata No. 1, Op. 29: I. Zundender Lichtblitz Des Lebens
Cantata No. 1, Op. 29: II. Kleiner Flugel Ahornsamen
Cantata No. 1, Op. 29: III. Tonen Die Seligen Saiten Apolls
Variations For Orchestra, Op. 30
Cantata No. 2, Op. 31: I. Schweigt Auch Die Welt
Cantata No. 2, Op. 31: II. Sehr Tief Verhalten Innerst Leben
Cantata No. 2, Op. 31: III. Schopfen Aus Brunnen Des Himmels
Cantata No. 2, Op. 31: IV. Leichteste Burden Der Baume
Cantata No. 2, Op. 31: V. Freundselig Ist Das Wort
Cantata No. 2, Op. 31: VI. Gelockert Aus Dem Schose

Amazon.com essential recording

Webern (1883-1945) was practicing his own kind of atonality and serialism before he met Schoenberg. Schoenberg taught him that his serial principles could bring order to his work. This disc contains seven short works that reflect Webern's own experimental writing. This music is neither easy to play nor easy to listen to. The rewards are immense, however. Best here is Symphony, Op. 21, (1928) and Variations for Orchestra (1940), with "best" being practically meaningless. But you can hear the beginnings of 20th-century modernism in this music. Pierre Boulez, as usual, does what he can to make the music intelligent. Only for the brave. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews:

Romantic Webern?.......2001-01-24

Yes, yes. Anton Webern (1883-1945) took the implications of the so-called Second Viennese School to their most radical conclusions, but like his teacher Arnold Schoenberg and his fellow Schoenberg-student Alban Berg, Webern remained in touch with the Mahlerian late-Romanticism of his youth. Even the gnomic Symphony, Opus 21 (1927) looks back to Mahler and makes (I believe) specific references to the Ninth Symphony. Consider the opening gestures of Webern's Symphony: We hear harp, strings, and horn - the very same combination in evidence in the first movement of Mahler's valedictory D-Minor Symphony. This is fin-de-siècle hyper-Romanticism glimpsed through the refractory lens of post-Hapsburg modernism. Webern originally planned four movements for his Symphony but typically left only two for posterity. Had he fulfilled his plan, the existing movements would probably make more sense than they do and indeed their underlying Romanticism might be clearer. Herbert von Karajan played this music very slowly, drawing the Symphony out to over a quarter of an hour, almost as if to lend it Mahlerian proportions. Boulez, of course, takes it faster, but he grasps the link with Mahler more clearly than von Karajan. I once heard Boulez lead a rehearsal of Mahler's Ninth, and he lavished a great deal of attention to the timbres of the opening bars of the First Movement. He finds those same timbres in the corresponding bars of Webern's score. Does it seem odd to speak of Webern's Romanticism? But one only has to look at the texts that he chose for his vocal and choral music, especially the mystical poems by Hildegard Jone, with their Hölderlinian fondness for nocturnal nature-imagery and lightning-like revelations of Being, as in "Das Augenblick": "O sea of glances with its surf of tears... When the night of your eyelids silently descends / upon your depths, your waters wash / against those of death." Not even the "French" interpretations of Boulez can hide this. In fact, as they bring out the convergence of Webernian minimalism with Debussy's late style, also an outgrowth of Romanticism, they reinforce the intuition. This is the best Webern anthology ever, with crisp, luminous playing from the Berlin Philharmonic, beautifully recorded. Despite Boulez's reputation for uncompromising Cartesian coldness, what we have here is Webern the sensualist, Webern the mystic, Webern the devotee of Mahler. Of the Big Three atonalists, Webern is the least intimidating and Boulez makes for him a very user-friendly case.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Make a Joyful Noise

Mendelssohn: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 1, Op. 12 & 13

Slowly Going The Way Of The Buffalo

Imprint

Baby One More Time/Oops! I Did It Again [Import]

Swingin' the Boogie

She Loves Me: The New Broadway Cast Recording (1993 Revival) [Cast Recording] [Cast Recording]

Puccini La Boheme

Permission to Land [Import]

Piezas Clasicas Maestras 10

Ovary Lodge

Sacate Todo! [Import]

Pachuco Remix

Santana - Greatest Hits (Gold)

Gotta Have Gospel, Vol. 2