Search - Schoenberg, Bryn-Julson, Rattle :: Erwartung / Chamber Symphony

Excellent Recording of Works That Challenge Sonics

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 03/23/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Simon Rattle has long been considered a sensitive conductor of the more difficult music of the last century. Though time and exposure have been kind to the works of Arnold Schoenberg, this remains music that calls for concentration and careful listening. Recordings as fine as this one make these difficult works far more accessible: Rattle has provided us with definitive performances.



The CD includes 75 minutes of Schoenberg's output. The works are played chronologically, from the highly inventive 'Kammersymfonie No. 1 for 15 instruments' from 1906, through the often-staged 'Erwartung' from 1909 to the easily accessible 'Variationem fur Orchester' from 1928. Though each of these works is well performed, it is the 'Erwartung' that stuns.



'Erwartung' is a 'monodrama' for soprano and orchestra, the text being that of Marie Pappenheim that chronicles a lover's search and discovery of her dead lover in a night forest. It is more and more frequently performed in the opera houses as an adjunct with other one act operas. The soprano here is Phyllis Bryn-Julson who lends her inimitable accomplishments in Sprechstimme to the grandeur of this role. Her voice is superb: her communication is uncanny.



Rattle conducts the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in the Kammersymfonie and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in both the Erwartung and the Orchestral Variations. The quality of spaciousness in the recording is superb. Both ensembles play with finesse. Recommended for listeners not wholly familiar with Schoenberg's important legacy. Grady Harp, March 05"