Search - Schoenberg, Norman, Ozawa :: Gurrelieder

Gurrelieder
Schoenberg, Norman, Ozawa
Gurrelieder
Genre: Classical
 
This is the biggest piece of music ever performed with any regularity. Anyone who avoids Schoenberg because his name is synonymous with that nasty, atonal stuff need have no fear. This is a ripe, Romantic score with big...  more »

     

CD Details

All Artists: Schoenberg, Norman, Ozawa, Bso
Title: Gurrelieder
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Polygram Records
Release Date: 10/25/1990
Genre: Classical
Style: Opera & Classical Vocal
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 028941251121

Synopsis

Amazon.com
This is the biggest piece of music ever performed with any regularity. Anyone who avoids Schoenberg because his name is synonymous with that nasty, atonal stuff need have no fear. This is a ripe, Romantic score with big tunes and cinematic orchestration. The story is simple: King Waldemar of Gurre is fooling around with Tove. The queen finds out and has her poisoned. The king curses God and is condemned to ride on a ghostly hunt throughout all eternity, until the arrival of dawn signals an end to the nightly horror. This performance has been THE choice since the day it was released, for both interpretation and recording. "Magnificent" doesn't begin to describe it. --David Hurwitz
 

CD Reviews

A massive experience
Stefan Steinsson | Hvolsvelli, Iceland | 11/19/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)

"I had once been told, that Schoenberg's pre-modern, i.e. late-romantic, music were so boring as hardly to merit discussion. This proved to be wrong. First I fell for Verklaerte Nact; then Pelleas und Melisande and finally Gurrelieder. After that I believe Schoenberg's late-romantic compositions will receive a higher level of attention in the near future than hitherto, as they surely deserve.



Having never listened to Wagner much, and not overly enthusiastic about Mahler, I had gained relatively little insight into gigantism. Gurrelieder therefore was a pleasant, yet somewhat overwhelming surprise. I would not be surprised if it stood head and shoulders over other gigantic opuses from the same time and age.



Advantages: Mr. Ozawa knows how to handle the orchestra and I have little to comment. It is interesting to see how magnificiently Schoenberg scores for the huge woodwind and brass ensemble. I got hold of a study score to read along whilst listening: this gives a deeper insight to the music, as many students will know. - The jester is superb, as is the narrator (Kurt Weill has learned a lot from these passages!)



Disadvantages: The soprano sounds rather unlike "lille", which in Danish means "little"; you imagine a young girl, Tovelille, "Little Dove". The soprano here sounds like a matron. On the other hand, King Waldemar sounds almost too young and boyish, esp. early on in the work. Not very heroic. Schoenberg keeps the choir until late; they just stand and wait. A bit awkward. Of course Tovelille has to leave when she dies, but it is slightly ambiguous how persons "come and go".



Is it a cantata or an oratorio? Dmitri Shostakovich might have called it a symphony, cf. Babi Yar and No. XIV. Albeit a very long symphony. Anyway, it is a great experience. Something to bring along to a desert island. Probably Schoenberg's best opus."