Search - Schoenberg, Young, Arroyo :: Gurrelieder: Suite for String Orchestra

Value for money

03/20/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Gurrelieder Cantata is probably one of the most popular works of a composer otherwise regarded as rather `esoteric'. Scored for unusually huge orchestra, chorus and soloists, its performance probably presents a challenge to any conductor - the programme notes accompanying this CD mention that Schoenberg had to order special music paper which could accommodate forty staves (The programme notes are rather entertaining to read, it is just a pity that the text is not included). This highly inspired work is written in a style strongly influenced by late romanticism - full of passion, yearning, love, grief and uncanny scenes surpassing those encountered in the music by Berlioz, Liszt and Weber's Freischuetz.Compared to other performances of the Schoenberg Gurrelieder, this one appears more restrained and slightly on the slow side, but the tension is nevertheless well maintained. The choice of singers is excellent, the participation of Dame Janet Baker being a special treat. All the singers display a wonderful sense for musical line despite the frequent angular melodies and difficult intervals - they are complemented by neat and transparent orchestral playing, which in a composition like the Gurrelieder is definitely not easy to achieve.This is a live recording, and there are wrong notes and insecure moments, but these do not impede the overall performance, which in general is convincing and moving."

The finest in the catalogue

J. Chiu | Washington, DC | 02/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ferencsik's approach is convincingly late romantic (rather than proto-modernist) and hence the overall effect is more emotional, lyrical and passionate than (say) Boulez (more clinical). As a live recording, the excitement is compelling and the soloists superb: Arroyo's incredibly richly textured voice, used with a real sense of line and control, and perfectly gauged in the great ascents to the staggering vocal climaxes, Dame Janet's unequalled inwardness and drama as the Waldtaube, in lush, focussed voice capped by a superb high B-flat, and Young's wonderful phrasing and lyrical atmosphere. Three singers who absolutely UNDERSTAND what they are singing, and express that knowledge with eloquence and conviction. The nearest competitor to this in the catalogue is the Ozawa/Philips, but that's such an artifical creation of spliced live takes, that it really doesn't catch fire like this (nor does the multimike recording at all sound like we heard at the performances in Symphony Hall)."

A curious entry in the catalogue that turns out to be great

Classic Music Lover | Maryland, USA | 09/30/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This live concert recording from the mid-1960s seems very curious at first blush. Here we have a Hungarian conductor directing a Danish orchestra and chorus, along with a popular British soprano (Janet Baker) and a leading Metropolitan Opera artist (Martina Arroyo). It seemed to me a "perfect storm" of elements producing a performance that might not hang together too well.



As it turned out, while things might get a little off kilter here and there, on balance this is the most viscerally exciting rendition of the Gurre-Lieder I've heard. That may be because it's a live concert performance ... but that doesn't seem to redeem the more measured Kubelik performance on DGG that's also a live concert recording.



All the soloists do a fine job, and mention should also be made of Julius Patzak in the speaking role -- surely his last recorded performance after many years at the Vienna State Opera and in numerous recordings. It's true that Patzak has some difficulty being heard above the massive orchestra, but it's not the first time that's happened in this piece. (In fact, I remember attending a Baltimore Symphony performance with Sergiu Commissiona in about 1980 where NONE OF ANY of the soloists -- not just the speaker -- could be heard above the orchestra. How frustrating was that!)



There are certainly a number of very good recordings of Gurre-Lieder available today. But at EMI's special price, this one is definitely well worth investigating. When the piece is performed this well, it's easy to realize that Schoenberg had everything Mahler had as a composer ... and was soon ready to branch out to completely new musical horizons, figuring he just didn't have anything more to say in the "late-late-romantic" idiom. Sometimes I wish Mahler had come to that same conclusion after, say, his Fifth symphony ...



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