Schoenberg: Cabaret Songs, Lieder / Bryn-Julson, Oppens

$19.99
Label
Music and Arts Programs of America
Release Date
August 19, 2013
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      SCHOENBERG, ARNOLD
    • PERFORMER
      Ursula, Phyllis, Oppens, Bryn-Julson
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      August 19, 2013
    • UPC
      017685065026
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      MUA650
    • LABEL
      Music and Arts Programs of America
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Vocal
    Works ⌄

    1. No. 6. Galathea

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    2. No. 7. Gigerlette

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    3. No. 1. Der genugsame Liebhaber

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    4. No. 2. Einfaltiges Lied

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    5. No. 5. Mahnung

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    6. No. 4. Jedem des Seine

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    7. No. 8. Seit ich so viele Weiber sah

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    8. No. 1. Erwartung

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    9. No. 2. Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    10. No. 3. Erhebung

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    11. No. 4. Waldsonne

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    12. I. Unterm Schutz von dichten Blattergrunden

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    13. II. Hain in diesen Paradiesen

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    14. III. Als Neuling trat ich ein in dein Gehege

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    15. IV. Da meine Lippen reglos sind und brennen

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    16. V. Saget mir, auf welchem Pfade

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    17. VI. Jedem Werke bin ich furder tot

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    18. VII. Angst und Hoffen wechselnd mich beklemmen

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    19. VIII. Wenn ich heut nicht deinen Leib beruhre

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    20. IX. Streng ist uns das Gluck und sprode

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    21. X. Das schöne Beet betracht ich mir im Harren

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    22. XI. Als wir hinter dem bebluhmten Tore

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    23. XII. Wenn sich bei heiliger Ruh in tiefen Matten

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    24. XIII. Du lehnest wider eine Silberweide

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    25. XIV. Sprich nicht immer von dem Laub

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens

    26. XV. Wir bevolkerten die abend dustern Lauben

      Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

      Performer: Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Ursula Oppens


Phyllis Bryn-Julson has been America's foremost Lieder and oratorio singer for decades; her sensitivity to texts and intelligent singing, along with the natural beauty of her voice, have been matched by no other singer. But Schoenberg's Cabaret Songs (Brettllieder), written for a Berlin nightclub—virtually his only means of support during 1901—need a young, teasing chanteuse to express their coy, fey, often erotic sentiments. No problem: Bryn-Julson becomes that chanteuse for these 1990 recordings. She does not go as far as Marni Nixon, who mimics a childish voice in her 1970s RCA LP of these songs, going over the line into caricature. Accompanist Ursula Oppens, a great artist in her own right, seems not to share the cabaret atmosphere; her grand piano sounds as if it belonged on the concert stage, which is really the case for these songs nowadays. The differing attitudes do not compromise these fine performances. Unfortunately, this disc omits one of Schoen-berg's eight cabaret songs, Nachtwandler, because it calls for piccolo, trumpet, and snare drum as well as piano; Nixon includes it, as does Dorothy Dorrow on an Etcetera disc {Fanfare 12:3).

In the 1899 Four Songs, op. 2, Schoenberg writes in the late-Romantic style of Brahms and Wolf. Bryn-Julson's true pitch is a blessing to the ear after Susanne Lange's velvety but unreliable mezzo {Fanfare 14:3). The Book of the Hanging Gardens gets an exceptional performance; Bryn-Julson makes every word intelligible, her precise diction aided by the digital recording. Jan De-Gaetani, in another fine performance, goes in for more exotic vocal effects, at the cost of some intelligibility; perhaps the loss is also due to the analog Nonesuch recording (also Fanfare 14:3). This disc's otherwise excellent recording goes momentarily over the edge on the final word of Erhebung in op. 2, as the engineer underestimates the joint power of this voice and this piano. The close-up sound is totally appropriate for the heavy atmosphere of op. 15, and the cabaret songs are recorded with more space. The booklet includes texts of all these songs, with English translations. Those who have Jan DeGaetani's Nonesuch disc of Pierrot lunaire already possess a superb Book of the Hanging Gardens; the stronger coupling makes that disc the more generally recommendable, but there will be many who will want to hear Phyllis Bryn-Julson's views on all this music.

-- James H. North, FANFARE [1/1992]