Search - Arnold Schoenberg, Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Robert Craft :: The Music of Arnold Schoenberg

An Important and Enjoyable Recording

Paul Bunkerr | New London, CT USA | 07/04/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Some forty years ago, Robert Craft set out to make recordings of Schoenberg's works with Columbia Masterworks. As rumor has it, Columbia was not about to lavish large sums of money on the project, so for the orchestral works, Columbia allowed Craft to use unused recording time with major symphony orchestras that remained after more commercially attractive repertoire had been recorded with another conductor. The result was an excellent and very important series of multi-disc long-play albums that utilized the forces of great orchestras and top-notch musicians. In many cases, these were the first recordings of many of Schoenberg's works and they set the standard of recorded performances for many years.



I am not going to argue the merit of these orchestral transcriptions - each one is exceedingly well done, and from first hand experience, I can tell you that audiences love to hear these works in concert. In fact, in the last forty years, Schoenberg's arrangement of the Brahms G Minor Piano Quartet and Bach's St. Anne Prelude and Fugue have increasingly appeared on many concert programs, and there are several recordings of both works currently available in the catalogue.



The new Sony Masterworks series of reissues includes this disc of orchestral transcriptions of Schoenberg and Webern. It is nice to have all five works all on one disc, as they were origingally spread out among several different sets when they first appeared on lp. The packaging of these series is excellent, with slightly-doctored original album artwork, very good liner notes and recording date information.



Sonically, the Brahms and Bach sound especially "bright" - so much so that I had to tone down the upper frequencies on my playback equipment. This was not true of the original LP versions, so it must be the result of Sony's remastering.

As for the performances, Craft favors lively tempi, which greatly benefits the St. Anne Prelude and Fugue - so many other versions sound like a dirge. In fact, I consider this to be the best recorded version of the Schoenberg/Bach St. Anne, in spite of the lean sound of the CBC symphony.



The Brahms performance is another matter. Here the quick tempi rob the third movement of its Romantic sweep, and the admittedly awkward writing in the first movement sounds even more awkward. Plus the Chicago Symphony sounds decidedly under-rehearsed for this unfamiliar and demanding music. Craft does muster some thrilling playing, though. Webern's arrangement of Schubert's German Dances is a nice filler.



That said, this is a highly recommended disc for the excellent Bach St. Anne performance, and to encourage Sony Classical to issue more of these recordings that have not yet seen the light of day on compact disc."

At last, a great performance of Schoenberg's Brahms arrangem

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 06/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The main work here, and the most delightful discovery, is the Brahms Piano Quartet in G minor as arranged for very large orchestra by Arnold Schoenberg. This gorgeous, kaleidoscopic work has been dubbed the "Brahms Fifth Symphony," and it's certainly long enough and grand enough for that, but the arrangement is 20th-Century modern, complete with xylophone! In this mid-Sixties reissue with the wonderful Chicago Sym., Robert Craft gives a vivaciuos reading full of joy--believe it or not, here is Schoenberg having riotous fun. Compared to this CD, the RCA recording with Eschenbach, a good make-do for many years, sounds earthbound.



The pairing is a collection of Bach arrangements that are equally innovative. One has no doubt listening to this St. Anne Prelude and Fugure with the expert CBC Radio Sym. that Schoenberg was a master orchestrator. His fearsome reputation with audienes (and his combative relish of controversy) has kept these highly listenable pieces from the concret stage. Luckily, here thye are in great sound for all to hear. I hope more listeners take a chance--they won't be disappointed."