Search - Berg, Bham, Rattle :: Schoenberg, Webern, Berg: Orchestral Works

Best Lulu Suite've heard

Samuel | Morganton, NC | 11/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"From all versions i got from the Lulu Suite this is the best i 've heard. rattle's tenderness and interpretation of the last movement ís great. every 20th century music lover must have this album. i higly recommend it.

rattle should make the complete opera"

Magisterial

David Saemann | 04/28/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't always warm up to the Second Viennese School, but Simon Rattle has crafted an album that is highly persuasive. He has a real feeling for the beauty of these compositions, and his orchestra is trained to perform them to the last degree. His performance of Schoenberg's Five Orchestral Pieces is highly moving. Moods are created with a keen ear for sonority, and the entire emotional perspective is sumptuous and reflective. The booklet contains the English translations of Schoenberg's titles for each piece, and they can be followed very meaningfully. Webern's Six Orchestral Pieces are given with a rather different aesthetic, one that emphasizes orchestral pointillism over mood painting. In a strange way, Mozart came to mind. As for the Lulu Suite, this is the lushest performance I've ever heard. I grew up with LPs of the Suite by Ormandy and Abbado, but Rattle offers lucidity and warmth that seem new to me. Arleen Auger sings beautifully. The sound engineering throughout the CD is crystalline and full sounding. I am hardly an expert on the Second Viennese School, but I think very few people would be unhappy with this disc."

Elegance and refinement

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 09/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This collection of orchestral and opera pieces from Second Viennese School masters Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg amply demonstrates why Sir Simon Rattle was offered the conducting position at one of Europe's most esteemed ensembles, the Berlin Philharmonic, after Claudio Abbado left.



Compared to other recordings of this music, Rattle consistently finds elegance, refinement and depth of utterance where many other pound away at the surface elements of the pieces. I'm not a great admirer of Rattle's and have not been supportive of most of the recordings I've heard from him. This one is a gem, however, one that improves with time and exposure. It is no wonder the Penguin Guide graded this a key recording with its highest score.



The orchestral pieces find Rattle and the Birmingham orchestra in fine form and the Lulu suite features the late, great Arleen Auger. Note the way Rattle eshcews both bombast and hysteria in Schoenberg's Five Pieces and the elegance with which he translates the humanity of Webern's Six Pieces, a score that is often performed so cerebrally as to leave out the humanity. This is an outstanding collection at a great price that will help anyone, neophyte or seasoned collector, better understand what the Second Viennese School is all about."