ARNOLD SCHOENBERG 150 (1874-1951)

REVIEW:

As Waldemar, Stephen O’Mara is heroic and declamatory, with Wagnerian strength, yet lyrical tone and sweetness. As Tove, Melanie Diener sounds lovely, especially in one of my favorite sections, "Du sendest mir einen Liebesblick". Jennifer Lane’s Wood Dove has little more than twelve minutes on the entire recording, but they are memorable and end the first CD with rapture. Ditto for David Wilson-Johnson, whose fine bass voice appears for only three minutes, for "Deckel des Sarges klappert," but he also makes a fine impression. Martyn Hill uses his mellifluous tenor to nice effect in "Ein Seltsamer Vogel ist so’n Aal", and even the speaker in the penultimate section, Ernst Haefliger, makes the most of his interlude.

The Philharmonia Orchestra fairly roars through the score, in the best sense, combining passion with an enormous dynamic range. Craft seems to encourage them to ever-greater heights. The Simon Joly Chorale is sparingly used, with the tenors and basses having few minutes to themselves as Waldemar’s men in "Gekusst, O König" before the entire ensemble fairly explodes in the final "Sehte die Sonne" ("Hymn to the Sun"). This dazzling sequence gave me a bit of the shivers, in a good way. All of this is expertly captured by engineer Arne Akselberg in Watford Colosseum, with corresponding clarity and majesty and a huge sense of occasion. The physical sound of the recording is sumptuous, with as mentioned before, a very wide dynamic range. I doubt any listeners will have any complaints. Listen to it loud, but be prepared for the climaxes that may shake the walls of your home.

-- MusicWeb International