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Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire, Etc / Craft, Wyn-rogers, Et Al
Naxos

Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire, Etc / Craft, Wyn-rogers, Et Al

$19.99

Details

Composer
SCHOENBERG, ARNOLD
Artist
Var, Hulse, Craft
Format
CD
Label
Naxos
Released
Mar 27, 2007
Catalog #
8557523
UPC
747313252329

About



SCHOENBERG Herzgewächse. 1 Pierrot lunaire. 2 4 Orchestral Songs. 3 Chamber Symphony No. 1 4 • Robert Craft, cond; 1 Eileen Hulse (sop); London SO; 1 Anya Silja (Sprechstimme); 2 Twentieth-Century Classics Ens; 2,4 Catherine Wyn-Rogers (mez); Philharmonia O 3 • NAXOS 8.557523 (73:51)


These four recordings were made from 1994 to 1998, when Craft’s Schoenberg series was being recorded by Koch. At least two of them— Herzgewächse and Pierrot lunaire —appeared on Koch CDs. The former is written for “high soprano,” which is an understatement; I don’t have a score, but it seems to probe the entire octave above high C (well above, say, the Queen of the Night), as well as exploiting the normal soprano range. Hulse makes smooth, well-rounded sounds at the top end, but they sound more instrumental than vocal. That effect may be merely the listener’s aural experience: we are not prepared to recognize a voice at such heights.


Silja brings a surprisingly fresh voice to Pierrot lunaire (I saw her Salome at the Vienna Staastoper in 1967). In the spoken/sung conundrum that is Sprechstimme , she tilts toward singing. The Twentieth-Century Classics Ensemble is loaded with stars: for Pierrot : Christopher Oldfather, piano; Michael Parloff, flute/piccolo; Charle Neidlich, clarinet/bass clarinet; Rolf Scholte, violin/viola; and Fred Sherry, cello. The playing is superb, instrument by instrument, but the whole is too smooth, too steady; the slashing wit and the terror of this extraordinary work do not come through. There are places where it’s more appropriate for strings to screech and winds to squawk.


The Four Orchestral Songs are rarities on or off disc; I know them only from Yvonne Minton’s recording with Boulez, and I don’t believe they appeared in Craft’s early “The Music of Arnold Schoenberg” for Columbia. Composed in 1916, these songs are surprisingly harmonious for music lacking a tonal center. The differences between the two recordings are primarily in the accompaniments: Craft’s Philharmonia plays the music in a strict, forthright manner, whereas Boulez’s BBC Symphony is mellifluous and distant, more closely matching the poems of loneliness and memories. My preferences seem to depend on my mood of the moment.


Freed from having to support a vocalist, Craft loosens up in the Chamber Symphony, and his ensemble of stars delivers vital, exhilarating playing. The lush, sweet acoustics of the Recital Hall at the SUNY Purchase Performing Arts Center in Purchase, New York, smooth out Schoenberg’s 15 individual lines, making the ensemble sound more like a conventional orchestra. It’s pleasant to hear but belies the composer’s revolutionary one-instrument-on-a-part scoring. Nevertheless, a great performance.


The downside of this disc is its lack of vocal texts,* so important for Pierrot lunaire and the little-known songs. Naxos’s program notes go on for eight-and-a-half pages, so space is not the problem. One simply must have texts here, as does the Minton/Boulez Four Songs on Sony. Of the many available Pierrot lunaire recordings which offer German/English texts, I recommend Jan DeGaetani on Nonesuch or Lucy Shelton on Bridge, a disc which also includes Hergewächse.


* Music Editor’s note: Texts are available on the Naxos Web site, but in German only; search for catalog no. 8.557523 and click on the Lyrics link.




FANFARE: James H. North

Tracklist 27 tracks

  1. 1 Herzgewachse, Op. 20 03:31
    Track
    1
    Title
    Herzgewachse, Op. 20
    Duration
    03:31
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    John Alley, Tim Carey, Eileen Hulse, Sioned Williams
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  2. 2 Part I: No. 1. Moondrunk 01:54
    Track
    2
    Title
    Part I: No. 1. Moondrunk
    Duration
    01:54
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  3. 3 Part I: No. 2. Columbine 01:43
    Track
    3
    Title
    Part I: No. 2. Columbine
    Duration
    01:43
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  4. 4 Part I: No. 3. The Dandy 01:27
    Track
    4
    Title
    Part I: No. 3. The Dandy
    Duration
    01:27
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  5. 5 Part I: No. 4. An Ethereal Washerwoman 01:29
    Track
    5
    Title
    Part I: No. 4. An Ethereal Washerwoman
    Duration
    01:29
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  6. 6 Part I: No. 5. Chopin Waltz 01:23
    Track
    6
    Title
    Part I: No. 5. Chopin Waltz
    Duration
    01:23
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  7. 7 Part I: No. 6. Madonna 02:05
    Track
    7
    Title
    Part I: No. 6. Madonna
    Duration
    02:05
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  8. 8 Part I: No. 7. The Sick Moon 03:06
    Track
    8
    Title
    Part I: No. 7. The Sick Moon
    Duration
    03:06
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  9. 9 Part II: No. 8. Night 02:27
    Track
    9
    Title
    Part II: No. 8. Night
    Duration
    02:27
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  10. 10 Part II: No. 9. Prayer to Pierrot 01:06
    Track
    10
    Title
    Part II: No. 9. Prayer to Pierrot
    Duration
    01:06
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  11. 11 Part II: No. 10. Theft 01:13
    Track
    11
    Title
    Part II: No. 10. Theft
    Duration
    01:13
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  12. 12 Part II: No. 11. Red Mass 01:52
    Track
    12
    Title
    Part II: No. 11. Red Mass
    Duration
    01:52
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  13. 13 Part II: No. 12. Gallows Song 00:18
    Track
    13
    Title
    Part II: No. 12. Gallows Song
    Duration
    00:18
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  14. 14 Part II: No. 13. Beheading 02:19
    Track
    14
    Title
    Part II: No. 13. Beheading
    Duration
    02:19
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  15. 15 Part II: No. 14. The Crosses 02:20
    Track
    15
    Title
    Part II: No. 14. The Crosses
    Duration
    02:20
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  16. 16 Part III: No. 15. Homesickness 02:17
    Track
    16
    Title
    Part III: No. 15. Homesickness
    Duration
    02:17
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  17. 17 Part III: No. 16. Vulgarity 01:13
    Track
    17
    Title
    Part III: No. 16. Vulgarity
    Duration
    01:13
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  18. 18 Part III: No. 17. Parody 01:25
    Track
    18
    Title
    Part III: No. 17. Parody
    Duration
    01:25
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  19. 19 Part III: No. 18. The Moonspot 00:54
    Track
    19
    Title
    Part III: No. 18. The Moonspot
    Duration
    00:54
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  20. 20 Part III: No. 19. Serenade 02:30
    Track
    20
    Title
    Part III: No. 19. Serenade
    Duration
    02:30
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  21. 21 Part III: No. 20. Homeward Bound 01:53
    Track
    21
    Title
    Part III: No. 20. Homeward Bound
    Duration
    01:53
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  22. 22 Part III: No. 21. O Ancient Fragrance 01:36
    Track
    22
    Title
    Part III: No. 21. O Ancient Fragrance
    Duration
    01:36
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Anja Silja
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  23. 23 No. 1. Seraphita 05:25
    Track
    23
    Title
    No. 1. Seraphita
    Duration
    05:25
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Catherine Wyn-Rogers
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  24. 24 No. 2. Alle, welche dich Suchen 01:59
    Track
    24
    Title
    No. 2. Alle, welche dich Suchen
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Catherine Wyn-Rogers
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  25. 25 No. 3. Mach mich zum Wachter deiner Weiten 03:49
    Track
    25
    Title
    No. 3. Mach mich zum Wachter deiner Weiten
    Duration
    03:49
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Catherine Wyn-Rogers
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  26. 26 No. 4. Vorgefuhler 02:19
    Track
    26
    Title
    No. 4. Vorgefuhler
    Duration
    02:19
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Catherine Wyn-Rogers
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Robert Craft
  27. 27 Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 (original version) 20:20
    Track
    27
    Title
    Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 (original version)
    Duration
    20:20
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Ensemble
    Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    Conductor
    Robert Craft