Schoenberg: The Piano Music (Double Bill) - Serkin (2004); Bucquet (1973)

Arnold Schoenberg

Das Klavierwerk

Peter Serkin

Arcana 315

There is Bach's Well Tempered Clavier...... and then there is Beethoven's Last 3 Sonatas and the Diabelli Variations...surely Chopin's Préludes and Etudes, and Brahms' late gems of the Op. 116-119... and definitely Debussy's Etudes.
And then there's Arnold Schoenberg's Piano Music.

Of course I don't mean to overlook the many unmentioned milestones composed in between by the likes of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann: this is how I view the development of piano literature and its most important steps forward in the incredibly dense 200 years elapsed between Bach's 1st Book (1722) and Schoenberg's Suite Op. 25 (1923).

And always keep in mind that the Viennese genius' work, although highly intellectual, shall disclose to you when you listen to it with your heart. This is some of the most humane music written. Part of it (Op. 11 for instance) is still late-romantic (well, very late). But when serialism is later introduced, Schoenberg is able to surpass his own mastership by making his musical revolution sound so touching (try the Menuet & Trio of the Suite Op. 25).

Peter Serkin's recording from 2004 is a classic, you can't go wrong with his intellectual precision and superb articulation (the American pianist, Rudolf's son, is a Bach specialist himself).


Flac, Image & Covers

Marie-Françoise Bucquet

Philips 6500 510

Marie-Françoise Bucquet's 1973 recording is so beautifully played that it should never be forgotten. Sadly, having been out-of-print since its original release and never transferred to digital - it probably will.

Born in Normandy, Bucquet studied in Vienna with more than one of Schoenberg's pupils (including the great Eduard Steuermann), then became Boulez's protégé back in Paris at IRCAM. Her approach to these immortal piano pieces is wholehearted: somewhat delicate yet lucid, and Bucquet maintains a praiseworthy beauty of tone throughout the whole journey.



LP rip
Ape & Covers

Schoenberg: Ein Ueberlebender aus Warschau / Webern: Orchestral Works - Wiener Phil., Abbado

Arnold Schoenberg: Ein Ueberlebender aus Warschau*
Anton Webern: Orchestral Works
*Gottfied Hornik, *Wien State Opera Chorus,
Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado
Deutsche Grammophon - 431 774-2

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This release could actually stake a partial claim at being (partially late baroque, due to Webern's arrangement of the Maestro Bach's Ricercar a 6 from the "Musikalische Opfer".
The rest is your usual, trite, overly popular repertoire, of MIMIC's "Low Empire".

Brahms: Symphony No.4, Schoenberg: Variations Op.31 - Nagano

Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4
Arnold Schoenberg: Variations Op. 31
Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano
Harmonia Mundi HMC901884

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Hurwitz gave this recording a 10/10, but this shouldn't deter you from buying it, let alone test-listening it. It didn't deter me at least!
A brief explanation of why I loathe Hurwitz: Nagano deosn't seem a canditate to the glue factory according to the Hurwitz-pensiero. Thielemann (whose Schumann is absolutely wonderful) is. Fortunately for Thielemann figures such as Barenboim, Sawallisch and Grimaud don't read Hurwitz, if they were ready (back in 2004) to sign a petition aimed avoiding Thielemann getting fired from the position he occupied at the Munich Philharmonic. Or maybe they just thought the Munich Philharmonic is a glue factory.

Classics Today Rating: 10/10

Try as I might to be objective and let musical values speak for themselves, I confess that I came to this recording in a cynical frame of mind. After all, who needs another Brahms Fourth? And the Schoenberg coupling seems like such an unoriginal gambit at this late stage. You know: Beauty and the Beast, the obligatory obeisance to a historically "important" modern work, but one that is vile in all other respects. We know that Schoenberg admired Brahms as a forerunner of the notion of "developing variation", but does anyone who wants the Brahms also want the Schoenberg Variations? Besides, it's been done before, at least conceptually. There was Dohnányi's Decca Mozart symphony set, coupled with Webern. Then Inbal did the Schumann Symphonies on Denon with all kinds of Second Viennese stuff attached. It's a tired concept.

Then I listened to the performances. They are fabulous. From the first note of the Brahms, with its rich-toned strings and real sense of impending tragedy, Kent Nagano turns in a reading that ranks with the best. It's impossible to list all of the wonderful moments: the first movement's powerful development section; the magical approach to the recapitulation; the lacerating coda; the Andante's gorgeous lyricism; the whiplash rhythms and uninhibited brilliance of the scherzo; and the perfect balance Nagano finds in the finale between active rage and impassive grandeur.

One example gives an excellent sense of this performance. In the passacaglia (a bit before and after the one-minute mark) Nagano takes special care to bring out the syncopated accompaniment in the horns, and then makes sure that the similar rhythm remains clear when strings have it in the next variation, all the while keeping the bass line audibly present. Finely considered detail placed in the service of the music's long-range continuity - in Brahms that's a sure recipe for success.

Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra may not win over many converts to the cause, but you won't hear a more beautiful performance anywhere. The orchestra plays with such confidence and with such an acute sense of balance and texture that the music loses much of its forbidding exterior and sounds almost approachable. All of which goes to show that it really ought to be approachable when it's played properly. The exceptionally warm and clear recorded sound is a major contributing factor to the success of these interpretations, particularly in the Variations, which never turn strident or screechy. In the end, though, Nagano and the orchestra can't be praised highly enough for making such a tough program--an overplayed warhorse paired with a piece practically no one loves - so compelling. Will anyone actually buy it? Who knows, but it's a major achievement nonetheless.

David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com