Search - Arnold Schoenberg, Robert Craft, Philharmonia Orchestra of London :: Schoenberg: Six Songs for Soprano and Orchestra

An Interesting Schönberg Set...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 12/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

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This interesting set features vocalise pieces from all Schönberg's artistic periods.



Ei du Lütte (1896) [WoO] for a cappella male chorus is a little part-song setting of a poem by the Holstein poet Klaus Groth, and is typical of Schönberg's FIRST Period--likewise, the Op. 8 Six Orchestral Songs (1905) and the lovely Op. 13 Friede auf Erden (1907): these are works of Jugenstil or Art Nouveau.



Op. 8 is difficult to obtain on CD, which makes this disc quite special. The songs parallel those of Strauss, Mahler, and Zemlinsky. ~:25mins.



Op. 13 (~:09mins), on a lyric by Zürich poet C. F. Meyer, is for a cappella mixed chorus and recalls Brahms' many explorations in the genre: e.g., the Gesänge, Lieder, and Motetten for mixed chorus Opp. 29, 42, 62, 74, 104, 110, etc.



Brahms: Lieder & Romanzen - Secular Choruses

Brahms: Musique Sacrée; Geistliche Chormusick

Choral Masterpieces - Brahms: Drei Gesanges, Gypsy Songs, etc. / Creed, RIAS Kammerchor

Brahms: Lieder und Gesänger



The unusual set of Op. 35 (1930) for a cappella male chorus is a THIRD Period work 4/6ths of which is 12-tone. These songs begin with Schubert and Brahms and reach unto Modernistic abstraction. Schönberg utilizes every art of vocalise writing from "the sweetest cantabile to the liveliest recitative-like declamation." The pieces are largely contrapuntal but with a strong emphasis on chordal harmony. To clarify the texture, Schönberg precisely spaced the vocal lines in a very wide range. To increase the spice, he even employs onomatopoeia! (~:13mins.)



Singphonic Schubert: Complete Edition, Vol. 5

Schubert: Complete Part Songs for Male Voices Vol. 1

Schubert: Complete Part Songs for Male Voices Vol. 2

Schubert: Complete Part Songs For Male Voices, Vol. 4



The Kol Nidre Op. 39 is a LATE Period work from 1938 written for Synagogue use in Los Angeles on the eve of Yom Kippur. Schönberg employs a "serial treatment within a tonal framework. The Kol Nidre is a colourful score: the dramatic introduction includes some imaginatively telling orchestration, notably the graphic description of the Creation of light, with a bell-stroke, flickering trumpet, and whirring flexatone trill." (~:13mins)



The disc ends with a selection from Schönberg's magnum opus Moses und Aron. Enthusiasts would best obtain the comlete oprera directed by Boulez:



Schoenberg - Moses und Aron / Pittman-Jennings · Merritt · Boulez

Arnold Schoenberg: Moses Und Aron/Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38

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