Post by erik on Apr 6, 2024 21:07:48 GMT -5
Arnold Schoenberg is in the Classical Albums Spotlight with a recording of his massive 1913 oratorio "Gurrelieder".
Schoenberg: GURRELIEDER
Waldermar: GARY LAKES
Tove: EVA MARTON
Waldtaube: FLORENCE QUIVAR
Bauer: JOHN CHEEK
Klaus-Narr: JON GARRISON
Speaker: HANS HOTTER
New York Choral Artists
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/ZUBIN MEHTA (Sony]
Arnold Schoenberg is considered one of the titans of 20th century music, having taken much of the Romantic-era experiments of Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, and Gustav Mahler into some extremely (for the time) experimental areas, much like Stravinsky also did. But one work that outdid almost anything else in his repertoire (and this would include his string sextet “Transfigured Night” and the opera “Moses And Aron”), even in the realm of twelve-tone music, is his massive oratorio “Gurrelieder”. Based on poem texts by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen that were later translated into Schoenberg's native German, "Gurrelieder" was a work thirteen years in gestating, and it was a work that, like many of Schoenberg's greatest works, pushed the boundaries of music that giants like Wagner, Mahler, and Richard Strauss would have found incredible. In many ways, and much like Mahler’s own Symphony No. 8 (Symphony Of A Thousand), “Gurrelieder” marked the moment in music history when the Romantic era, which had begun late in the lives of Beethoven and Schubert, ended and the modern music era began. To say that Schoenberg was thinking big in composing this would be understating the matter, given that this requires an orchestra of no fewer than 150 players, five vocal soloists, and a fairly large choral component. Because of its length, usually between ninety and one hundred minutes, actual live performances of “Gurrelieder”, while quite plentiful, still require quite a lot of preparation for the work to come off. Leopold Stokowski, not surprisingly, was the one who gave the work its belated American premiere in April 1932 with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Schoenberg’s great choral work was given a first-rate performance by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in the spring of 1991 under Zubin Mehta, in what turned out to be his final recording as the orchestra’s music director. Trained in Vienna in works like Schoenberg’s, Mehta had always made Schoenberg’s works a specialty of his, particularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (he had introduced “Gurrelieder” to L.A. audiences in 1968). In this version of “Gurrelieder”, Mehta has a great sextet of performers in the vocal and speaking roles, and choral director Joseph Flummerfelt’s New York Choral Artists are a most brilliant component. In a surprisingly crowded field of recordings, Mehta’s farewell to the New York Philharmonic in the form of “Gurrelieder” is easily one of the best available.
Schoenberg: GURRELIEDER
Waldermar: GARY LAKES
Tove: EVA MARTON
Waldtaube: FLORENCE QUIVAR
Bauer: JOHN CHEEK
Klaus-Narr: JON GARRISON
Speaker: HANS HOTTER
New York Choral Artists
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/ZUBIN MEHTA (Sony]
Arnold Schoenberg is considered one of the titans of 20th century music, having taken much of the Romantic-era experiments of Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, and Gustav Mahler into some extremely (for the time) experimental areas, much like Stravinsky also did. But one work that outdid almost anything else in his repertoire (and this would include his string sextet “Transfigured Night” and the opera “Moses And Aron”), even in the realm of twelve-tone music, is his massive oratorio “Gurrelieder”. Based on poem texts by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen that were later translated into Schoenberg's native German, "Gurrelieder" was a work thirteen years in gestating, and it was a work that, like many of Schoenberg's greatest works, pushed the boundaries of music that giants like Wagner, Mahler, and Richard Strauss would have found incredible. In many ways, and much like Mahler’s own Symphony No. 8 (Symphony Of A Thousand), “Gurrelieder” marked the moment in music history when the Romantic era, which had begun late in the lives of Beethoven and Schubert, ended and the modern music era began. To say that Schoenberg was thinking big in composing this would be understating the matter, given that this requires an orchestra of no fewer than 150 players, five vocal soloists, and a fairly large choral component. Because of its length, usually between ninety and one hundred minutes, actual live performances of “Gurrelieder”, while quite plentiful, still require quite a lot of preparation for the work to come off. Leopold Stokowski, not surprisingly, was the one who gave the work its belated American premiere in April 1932 with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Schoenberg’s great choral work was given a first-rate performance by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in the spring of 1991 under Zubin Mehta, in what turned out to be his final recording as the orchestra’s music director. Trained in Vienna in works like Schoenberg’s, Mehta had always made Schoenberg’s works a specialty of his, particularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (he had introduced “Gurrelieder” to L.A. audiences in 1968). In this version of “Gurrelieder”, Mehta has a great sextet of performers in the vocal and speaking roles, and choral director Joseph Flummerfelt’s New York Choral Artists are a most brilliant component. In a surprisingly crowded field of recordings, Mehta’s farewell to the New York Philharmonic in the form of “Gurrelieder” is easily one of the best available.