Berg: Three Orchestral Pieces op. 6

[visualnickmos]

There's a pretty fine Abbado on DG with the LSO which has the wonderful Margaret Price singing Alteburg Lieder, etc.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ah, another sighting of the phantom Rattle!

(Amazon seems to think he's only done the Lulu suite on CD...)

Amazon is correct, and I'm embarrassed! My memory isn't what it used to be.


Or perhaps it is; I don't remember.

[Petrushka]

There's a pretty fine Abbado on DG with the LSO which has the wonderful Margaret Price singing Alteburg Lieder, etc.

Abbado had a long history of performing the op. 6 and, incredibly, that LSO recording dates back to 1970 when Abbado was just 37. I always remember a BBC TV film in the Great Orchestras of the World series broadcast in the mid 1970s in which Abbado was filmed in the Berg with the VPO. That was my first contact with the work and it prompted me to buy the Boulez disc.

[teamsaint]

Here's some more homework.

http://www.opusklassiek.nl/componisten/berglecture/mbberglecture.htm

[Black Swan]

well this a thread that will cost me..... I've checked and I don't have a recording at all. I know my collection is a bit thin on the 2nd Viennese
School. So now I will have to sort all the comments and off to the river, so to speak.

[Petrushka]

Here's some more homework.

http://www.opusklassiek.nl/componist...erglecture.htm

Thanks, ts. Great stuff. Also bookmarked for later reading.

[verismissimo]

... My memory isn't what it used to be.


Or perhaps it is; I don't remember.

How is one to know, ferney?

[Bryn]

Don' t worry ferney, as I'm sure you must have noticed, the recording of the Berg 3 Orchestral Pieces in Volume 2 of "PIERRE BOULEZ LE DOMAINE MUSICAL" is played not by Le Domaine Musical conducted by Boulez, but by the SWRB-B conducted by Hans Rosbaud (and rather rough and ready it is, too).

[To compound matters, the photograph on the front of the slip case for the disc with the 3 Pieces on it is of Pierre Boulez conducting, though admittedly it is he who conducts the Schoenberg and Webern on that disc.]

[silvestrione]

Oh, what a tragic loss, rfg! That Karajan set of Schoenberg/Berg/Webern is one of his greatest achievements - a classic of the Gramophone, and the expressive and colouristic range and subtlety of the Berg Op.6 seem unsurpassable. But most of all, the CD transfer has a dynamic range and impact that can only be described as scary! Recorded in the Jesus-Christus Kirche, it has a more spacious and atmospheric sound than the fine Abbado/VPO (1995) reading, which sounds just a little contained by comparison (at least as heard on the 8-disc DG Collection set), and which I find a touch frustrating sonically. Karajan creates a more intense sound-image of collapsing civilisations, as the orchestra sweeps from a whisper to a roar and makes you fear for your ears and your speakers. It is a demanding recording, needing a fairly high level to reveal the marvellous lowlevel detail, but as the climaxes approach, watch out... anyone who cares for this music should have this set. In the mid-1970s I used to borrow the LPs from the library, kept on renewing the loan for months, and never once did anyone else request them. The abstract green/turquoise/black cover art is a classic of its kind too.

Let's not forget the stunningly virtuoso, every-detail-audible LSO/Dorati on Mercury. Not always the last word in musical nuances perhaps, but it's a riveting listen, and if you want brutal expressionistic impact in the March, look no further! And another classic cover - "I saw the figure 5 in gold" by Demuth. Worth having for that alone...
But it's too late even for me to add more tonight...

Wow, what a recommendation! Embarrassed to find I have this Karajan recording, but don't think I've ever played it. On a later release coupled with Berg Violin Concerto (not conducted by HvK). Will play it later.

[Petrushka]

Isn't this a wonderful forum where we can share our enthusiasms and learn so much? I've known the Berg op. 6 for nearly 40 years but what a joy to learn so much more from the links provided by Ferney and ts. And an extra special joy to have prompted others to listen to a piece of music that is very special to me.

[Serial_Apologist]

Don' t worry ferney, as I'm sure you must have noticed, the recording of the Berg 3 Orchestral Pieces in Volume 2 of "PIERRE BOULEZ LE DOMAINE MUSICAL" is played not by Le Domaine Musical conducted by Boulez, but by the SWRB-B conducted by Hans Rosbaud (and rather rough and ready it is, too).

That was my first one of the work - which I still have! I bought it aged 18 at the Record Exchange in Wardour St - a treasure trove of 50s recorded avant-garde. The Berg Op 6 wasn't my greatest ever chat up line: without my laying a finger on her, the young woman in question, a Classics student at Bristol Uni, fled my flat in terror before even the first movement was over! Subsequently I acquired the Karajan/Berlin SO LP coupling with the string orchestrated Thee Movements from the Lyric Suite.

[Petrushka]

The Berg Op 6 wasn't my greatest ever chat up line: without my laying a finger on her, the young woman in question, a Classics student at Bristol Uni, fled my flat in terror before even the first movement was over!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

How is one to know, ferney?

What are all you people doing in my Living Room?

[verismissimo]

... That Karajan set of Schoenberg/Berg/Webern is one of his greatest achievements - a classic of the Gramophone, and the expressive and colouristic range and subtlety of the Berg Op.6 seem unsurpassable... Karajan creates a more intense sound-image of collapsing civilisations, as the orchestra sweeps from a whisper to a roar and makes you fear for your ears and your speakers. It is a demanding recording, needing a fairly high level to reveal the marvellous lowlevel detail, but as the climaxes approach, watch out... anyone who cares for this music should have this set...

Wish I'd written this. Thanks, Jayne. It inspired me to listen again (on LP) to Op 6 and the accompanying 3 pieces from the Lyric Suite. These second Viennese School recordings by BPO/HvK may well be, as you suggest, their best work. Intense. Impassioned. Shapely.

I had the Boulez Op 6 before the HvK and never warmed to it. Watch-makers music-making.

[amateur51]

Thee Movements from the Lyric Suite.

Now is that U or Non-U?