Search - Arnold Schoenberg, Pierre Boulez, Members of the Ensemble InterContemporain :: Arnold Schoenberg: Serenade/Five Pieces For Orchestra

Stephen T. from ASHLAND, OR
Reviewed on 12/3/2009...

Boulez is arguably the greatest conductor of all time. His orchestral recordings are impeccable, and the chamber works also have a clarity and nuance, combined with musical accuracy and spontaneity of interpretation, that makes this music come alive like no other recordings I've heard of this music. The Serenade is one of my favorite Schoenberg works, and Boulez's performance actually dwarfs the London Sinfonietta recording conducted by David Atherton on the London label, which sounds almost perfunctory, reserved, and distant in comparison. Without the Boulez for comparison, the London Sinfonietta would perhaps set the recorded standard for this piece, as these are also excellent musicians and conductor. This is a telling musical lesson concerning the performance and perception of contemporary classical music which may not be familiar to many listeners. Because of the closer mike on the instruments, from the beginning of the Boulez recording, one immediately is drawn into the unique atmosphere of this piece; with the Atherton recording the ensemble sounds more distant, and to my ear, this also reduces the effect of the music in comparison with the Boulez recording.

Music for Adults of All Ages

Fay Hughes | 02/22/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This music like all of Schoenberg's music is meant for people who listen seriously. Those who take the time and make the effort can hardly fail to hear the great charm (Serenade) or passionate depth (Five Pieces)or great moral weight (Ode) of this great and greatly misrepresented composer. Boulez's music making with his own Ensemble InterContemporain or the BBC Symphony are very fine and the recorded sound very clear."

A convert

Fay Hughes | 05/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I would like to speak in regards to what some reviewers are saying about the works of Schoenberg. I will admit that the first time I heard Schoenberg, I wrote him off as weird music that I would never like and was not worth listening to. In my defense, the first work I heard was "Pierrot Lunaire" which is a very hard work to understand. But I was assigned a paper of the Second Viennese School and its influences for music history and was forced to really listen to these works among others by much more extreme composers like Boulez and Cage (who I have yet to understand, but I am still young!) Once I stopped grumbling about how much I hated serialism and let myself really HEAR the music, I started to understand it and gained a begrudging respect for Schoenberg, which became a genuine liking. So in light of this, I dare anyone who is so willing to bash Schoenberg outright to really listen to his works and the works of those he influenced with an open mind and see if you can't at least respect the music for what it is."