Search - Arnold Schoenberg, Reinbert de Leeuw, Schoenberg Ensemble :: Schönberg - Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21 / Suite, Op. 29

What Sprechgesang is supposed to be!

Sam | 09/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a pity this outstanding CD is now out of print! Barbara Sukowa is a celebrated actress (Lola in Fassbinder's eponymous movie), whose experience on the scene is perfectly reflected in her way of pronouncing each word individually as if to extract even its slightest meaning. Her performance is the perfect compromise between speaking and singing, with glissandi between notes which make one shudder and give the overall work a crude, even sadistic tone, especially when her voice goes suddenly high and its edge sounds as if breaking the silence of night. The other work, Suite op. 29 sounds much warmer and telling than Boulez's well-known recording, whose knife-edged precision makes the work sound terribly dry and clinical - just listen to the theme and variations movement, its delicacy is delightful whereas Boulez (an otherwise great Schoenbergian) makes it sound like an exercise. Along with this nightmarish Pierrot - as unsettling as the photo on the front cover - it makes this CD worth investigating! And if you like it, De Leeuw recorded another Schoenberg CD - which I am still looking for."