Webern: Vocal and Orchestral Works / Craft, Arnold, Booth, Et Al

$9.99
Label
Naxos
Release Date
July 28, 2009
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      WEBERN, ANTON
    • ORCHESTRA / ENSEMBLE
      Philharmonia Orchestra, Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble
    • PERFORMER
      Craft, Arnold, Booth, Wilson-Johnson, S
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      July 28, 2009
    • UPC
      747313253128
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      8557531
    • LABEL
      Naxos
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Vocal
    Works ⌄

    1. Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Fuga (Ricercar a 6) (arr. A. Webern for orchestra)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    2. No. 1. Weiss wie Lilien

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Simon Joly Chorale, members Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    3. No. 2. Ziehn die Schafe

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Simon Joly Chorale, members Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    4. I. Heftig bewegt

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    5. II. Sehr langsam

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    6. III. Sehr bewegt

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    7. IV. Sehr langsam

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    8. V. In zarter Bewegung

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    9. No. 1. Du, der ich's nicht sage

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    10. No. 2. Du machst mich allein

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    11. No. 1. Sehr ruhig und zart

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    12. No. 2. Lebhaft und zart bewegt

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    13. No. 3. Sehr langsam und ausserst ruhig

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    14. No. 4. Fliessend, ausserst zart

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    15. No. 5. Sehr fliessend

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    16. No. 1. Wiese im Park

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    17. No. 2. Die Einsame

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    18. No. 3. In der Fremde

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    19. No. 4. Ein Winterabend

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    20. No. 1. Die Sonne

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    21. No. 2. Abendland I

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    22. No. 3. Abendland II

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    23. No. 4. Abendland III

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    24. No. 5. Nachts

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    25. No. 6. Gesang einer gefangenen Amsel

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    26. No. 1. Das Kreuz, das musst' er tragen

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    27. No. 2. Morgenlied

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    28. No. 3. In Gottes Namen aufstehn

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    29. No. 4. Mein Weg geht jetzt voruber

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    30. No. 5. Fahr hin, o Seel', zu deinem Gott

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Performer: Tony Arnold

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    31. Das Augenlicht, Op. 26

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Simon Joly Chorale, Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    32. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 30

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    33. Schweigt auch die Welt, aus Farben ist immer (The World, Through Silent, Is Always Full of Colours)

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: David Wilson-Johnson

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    34. Sehr tief verhalten innerst Leben (Buried Deep, Innermost Life Sings)

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: David Wilson-Johnson

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    35. Schopfen aus Brunnen des Himmels nach Wassen des Worts (To Draw From Heaven's Springs)

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Simon Joly Chorale, Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Claire Booth

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    36. Leichteste Burden der Baume trag ich durch die Raume: die Dufte (Through Space I Carry the Tree's Lightest Burden)

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Claire Booth

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    37. Freundselig ist das Wort (Kindly Is The Word)

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Simon Joly Chorale, Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Claire Booth

      Conductor: Robert Craft

    38. Gelockert aus dem Schosse (Delivered From the Womb)

      Composer: Anton Webern

      Ensemble: Simon Joly Chorale, Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Robert Craft




WEBERN Ricercata from Bach’s “Musical Offering.” 5 2 Songs, op. 19. 4,6 5 Movements for String Orchestra. 6 2 Songs, op. 8. 1,5 5 Pieces for Orchestra, op. 10. 6 4 Songs, op. 13. 1,5 6 Songs, op. 14. 1,5 5 Sacred Songs, op. 15. 1,5 Das Augenlicht. 4,6 Variations for Orchestra. 5 Second Cantata 2,3,4,6 • Robert Craft, cond; Tony Arnold (sop); 1 Claire Booth (sop); 2 David Wilson-Johnson (bs); 3 Simon Joly Ch; 4 20th Century Classics Ens; 5 Philharmonia O 6 • NAXOS 8.557531 (79:32)


Craft was the first to record Webern’s “complete” works, back in the 1950s. His four- LP monaural Columbia album was a revelation—and a tribute to the commercial daring of Columbia’s Goddard Lieberson. Although there had been four or five earlier recordings of single Webern works, Craft’s set joined only one other Webern piece in the 1957 Schwann catalogs. It was to remain available for more than two decades, until succeeded by Boulez’s stereo remake in 1979, dubbed—at the last minute—Vol. 1 because a trove of previously unknown works had been discovered. While the stereo LPs were a great improvement, both for their sound quality and their performances, the latter were due to the singers and players more than to the conductor. Webern had gained respect—indeed, had become the guru of musical academia—and musicians were leaning how to perform his works. The learning curve continued well into the CD era; an appropriate punctuation being the 1992 appearance of a superb Webern disc by the Netherlands Ballet Orchestra (nla). Now everyone could play Webern (if not yet sing him), not just the avant-garde specialists. Listeners of my generation learned Webern from that first Craft set, and we are forever in his debt. If he could not then convince us of the music’s beauty, he drew our attention and piqued our interest.


The Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble is a group contracted for Craft’s recordings, its players handpicked by cellist Fred Sherry. Personnel listings for each piece show it to include the best of free-lance American musicians—I am almost afraid to name some, for fear of slighting equally superb colleagues: Charles Neidlich, William Purvis, Paul Neubauer, and Sherry are so well known that I don’t even need to list their instruments. Soprano Arnold, professor of voice at SUNY Buffalo, is a renowned new-music specialist; she sings Webern with glorious panache. These recordings were made during 2007 and 2008—the Philharmonia sessions at EMI’s Abbey Road Studio No. 1, the American ones at SUNY Purchase, New York, and at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City. The solo songs (at SUNY) are clean and clear, but the chorus (at Abbey Road) is set in a reverberant acoustic that denies us the exact words, even with libretto in hand. As usual with Naxos, librettos are posted on the Internet, but the texts of Das Augenlicht and of the Second Cantata are missing.


One of the pleasures of any Craft release is reading his feisty, superbly informed, damn-the-torpedoes program notes. As usual, he insists that these performances are the only correct ones: “[W]e can blame the failure to understand this piece [the op. 30 Variations] on the ignoring of Webern’s admonition to follow his metronomic markings. The present recording is the first attempt to play the work at metronomic speed. Thus, the DGG [Abbado? Boulez?] trudges along at about 116 for the fast pulsation, as against the required 160, and continues at nearly the same 116 for the slow beat.” In addition to his chutzpah, Craft is usually right. Despite that statement, Craft’s Webern performances are generally softer and more listener-friendly than either Abbado’s sophisticated, highly polished renditions or Boulez’s careful but often stolid performances. Although dubbed the BBC Singers, Boulez’s chorus is also directed by Simon Joly; with the Webern œuvre now doubled, Boulez’s DG recordings fill six CDs and are currently distributed only in a complete set. For the op. 30 Variations , however, I recommend the vibrant, superbly recorded performance by Jac van Steen on a surround-sound SACD, MDG 901 1425.


FANFARE: James H. North