SACDs - Schoenberg

Helga Pilarczyk appeared with Scherchen, a fervent champion of 'Erwartung', throughout the 1950s, and she also recorded the work for Robert Craft [CBS] and Vaclav Neumann [Praga Archives 250082]. This, however, from 1960, is the one to have: it finds the big voluptuous voice radiant, secure and in almost effortless form for the first time since LP record. This truly is 'Die Frau' as Isolde's nervous breakdown. Superb support from Scherchen; somewhat quirky, if well-documented presentation from Wergo in their anniversary year. Excellent sound.

Under the title of “studio reihe neuer musik”, WERGO released outstanding recordings in the 1960s, thus creating a trademark of advanced contemporary music in the label's early days. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, WERGO now releases these highlights of 20th-century music history in an excellent sound quality in DSD for the first time.

Under its principal conductor Jac van Steen, the Dortmund Philharmonic long ago secured its place in the first ranks of German orchestras. Its intensive occupation with Richard Wagner’s oeuvre was excellent preparation for this highly welcome new recording.

The Finnish Kaamos Chamber Choir has recorded on this new disc, Valossa - From darkness to light, a cappella repertoire from its varied performance programme. The items range from folk song arrangements, to classical, and from Renaissance, to present day. The emotions and stories portrayed in the songs trace a thematic transition from dark winter days to light summer nights. The present disc is the culmination of a journey lasting nearly five years. The choir is conducted by talented Dani Juris.

'Pierrot lunaire', the scandalous ‘Red Mass’ with its bloody host, stems from a musical art in which Viennese cabaret, Neapolitan and oriental antecedents and German Jewish humour blend with stable, clearly audible Sprechgesang in a musical framework that serves as stage director and means of dramatic expression. It simultaneously proposes a literal text of immediate impact and its humorous and even ironic antithesis. Same outline with the Suite Op.29, which is serial but with jazzy counterpoint!

To illustrate the progressiveness of Brahms's harmonic style, Schönberg quoted his String Quartet opus 51 in C minor, arguing that Brahms's 'developing variation technique' and phrase structure were among the essential materials of Verklärte Nacht.

The Amsterdam Sinfonietta performs the original version of this string quartet, with the addition of a bass part created by the bass player and arranger Marijn van Prooijen.

In 1899, Arnold Schönberg wrote within three weeks the string sextet entitled Verklärte Nacht. It was inspired by Richard Dehmel's poem of the same name from Weib und Welt, a volume of poetry that caused great controversy at the time because of the sexual nature of its subject matter.

Arnold Schönberg arranged the string sextet for string orchestra in 1917 on the request of the Viennese publisher Universal Edition, and only then did the work become widely known. The composer corrected the orchestral score in 1943, adapting dynamics and tempos to increase the transparency of his arrangement. This is the version used by Amsterdam Sinfonietta in the present recording.

Amsterdam Sinfonietta occupies a unique position on the Dutch music scene as professional string orchestra. It is regularly invited to perform in concert halls throughout the world as one of the very few large-scale string ensembles on the international scene. The ensemble consists of 23 chamber musicians and its repertoire covers a variety of styles, ex tend ing from the Baroque repertoire to contemporary works. What sets Amsterdam Sinfonietta apart from the ‘regular’ chamber orchestras is the top priority it gives to a ‘chamber music mentality’.