Search - ConcerTante Chamber Players :: Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht; Strauss: Capriccio; Metamorphosen

Passion Plus -- The Strauss is an Unexpected Pleasure

George John | Houston, TX United States | 09/27/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had never heard of Concertante prior to my recent search for a better recording of Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht. I listened to all the sound clips on Amazon and decided this recording was the most promising of those I heard. Concertante is a string ensemble of eleven young Juilliard graduates, who have settled in Harrisburg, PA, intent upon continuing their musical collaboration beyond graduation. Their biographies seem to read like a "who's who" of young musicians. Part of their mission is to play music of more unusual ensembles (for example nonets), modern music, and relatively unknown works of well-known composers. Certainly, Verklärte Nacht is not relatively unknown, but is more typically played in the string orchestra version rather than the original, sextet version found here. While I am a huge fan of orchestral music, I generally prefer chamber versions over orchestral (for example the slow movement of the Barber String Quartet versus the Adagio for Strings), in part due to the fact chamber groups usually play more accurately and seem to come to a more thorough understanding of the music.This is a fine performance which many moments of brilliant playing both individually and collectively. Schoenberg was an amateur cellist who gave some great lines to the celli. Concertante's cellists, Zvi Plesser and Alexis Gerlach play superbly. In truth so does the entire group. While this work has some great moments, I have often found my attention wandering when listening to this work. That was not the case with this performance. This may not be the best performance of this work, but I enjoyed it so much I listened to it again in the same afternoon. I can't recall how long it has been since I have done that.The String Sextet from Capriccio is well done. It's not a work that has ever caught my imagination though. In fact I have mostly given up on Strauss's music, which I was a great fan of in my youth. An exception will be the septet version of the Metamorphosen. In part inspired by the destruction of Germany late in WWII, the work conveys genuine sadness and loss. Metamorphosen reminds me of a chamber version of the Mahler Ninth, having slow outer movements and two quick central movements. I'm most impressed by the passion and sensitivity of these musicians. The performance is about as ideal as one could hope for of any work of music. I found myself genuinely moved to tears while listening to it, partially due to the shock of hearing something that sounds so personal and genuine from Strauss and partially due to the exceptional performance quality.The sound is fine. The microphone placement seems to be close to the musicians. There's not much of a sense of depth in the stereo image. The sound is somewhat dry, but none of this gets in the way of the outstanding artistry of this group. I wish this group great success, and hope to see many more recordings like this one in the future. ..."