Customer Reviews

Alban Berg Collection / Various (Coll)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great set for anyone who wishes to be immersed in Alban Berg's lurid, hothouse, hallucinogenic world. Both performances and sound quality are mostly excellent: No record company has ever made as great a commitment to Berg as Deutsche Grammophon. Based on the performances alone, this deserves six stars.

But the budget price comes with a catch: No texts or librettos. (There are at least scene synopses for "Wozzeck" and "Lulu.") With some composers, this wouldn't be a serious problem, but Berg was one of the greatest control freaks in music history. Without knowing exactly where each word is placed, listeners who don't understand German will miss an important facet of this intricately multi-layered music.

This is a must have for any collectors, 20th Century Music admirers.

This is 8-CD set and includes the complete works of Berg on acclaimed performances.

Especially, the stars of this set (for me):
Wozzeck (Hildegard Behrens, Wiener Philharmoniker, Abbado)

Lulu, complete opera in 3 act (Teresa Stratas, Franz Mazura, Yvonne Minton, Jules Bastin, Robert Tear, Opera National de Paris, Pierre Boulez!!)

Lulu-Suite (London SO, Abbado)

Three Pieces for Orchestra (London SO, Abbado)

Piano Sonata (Daniel Barenboim)

Alban Berg's musical language is difficult to understand (at least in first listening), but when listening more times, we notice that, actually in his music, there is a very mystic or impressive and lyric atmosphere. So, I think that he is a "Romantic" modern. Just, he expressed these lyric atmospheres with realist and striking language. Still, he was used 12-tone system, but he was not forget tonality and used the both styles (even so he used jazz passages, especially in Lulu). In other words: Berg is one of the most famous and important composers and he impressed the composers came after him (ex. Shostakovich, Britten, Henze)

This is an essential collection and highly recommended.

This little box is an elegant, SPACE-SAVING means of acquiring classic performances (all of them stellar) from the DG catalog of Berg's major works, including two by my adored Lasalle Quartet that I believe have recently gone OOP. The set contains eight CD's housed in somewhat hard-to-remove cardboard sleeves that clearly identify the contents therein, and includes a booklet which, despite not containing lyrics for any of the vocal works, is very informative. The lack of libretti is possibly less an issue in the case of Wozzeck; chances are that listeners already own at least one other recording and so can refer to its libretto. Lulu, however, is more problematic because more listeners probably opt to purchase this "complete(d)" performance over all others and may even be purchasing this set on that basis.
Not being particularly fond of lieder in general, I feel less qualified to make an educated call as to who might own which recordings of the songs other than to remark that I already own this recording of Op. 2 (which, of course includes the lyrics). In fact, as is the case with a previous reviewer, I already own a number of recordings from this set (which I received as a gift). No matter, it's still worth owning, and I agree with yet another reviewer's suggestion to grab it while it's available. True, one might prefer different performances here or there but honestly, this affords the best way of acquiring everything in one fell swoop, and there's not a clinker in the whole set.
In that vein, I might suggest that fans of the VC seek out Szeryng's performance with Kubelik, now available remastered on DG Eloquence at budget price. It's much less emotional than Mutter's beautiful reading but I find this proves an enhancement rather than a detraction; I also feel that Kubelik, possibly due to his Austro-Hungarian heritage, ultimately has a better grasp of this repertoire than Levine (although I love his OOP Lulu Suite/Wozzeck excerpts on Sony and Mahler 4 on RCA).

Overall what you get here is great music in very fine performances, but as others have noted, there are no texts. This is a HUGE flaw when nearly three-quarters of the music is vocal, even if your German is excellent. I can only recommend this to Berg fans who already have other recordings with the texts or who otherwise have access to them. Still, I have to give this five stars.

After receiving multiple box sets of the complete works of Webern, I was happy that Alban Berg is finally receiving the same treatment. Although I favor Webern's music over Berg's, he's still one of my favorite composers. I'm not sure why he doesn't receive as much attention as Webern and Schoenberg (with the exception of "Wozzek"), but he doesn't and, until now, collecting his oeuvre has been difficult, to say the least. Now, we have access to everything, with classic performances no less.

My main complaint is that the set feels a bit cheap. Where the Deutsche Grammophon Webern box set contains six CDs in slimline jewel cases, and a large, multi-lingual book, the Berg collection contains eight CDs in flimsy cardboard sleeves and includes a much smaller booklet. We can certainly appreciate Berg's operas, "Lulu" and "Wozzeck", as purely musical experiences, but without texts, we can't understand the narrative, and thus, the music loses a significant amount of power. There are brief synopses, but they're just not adequate for a deep understanding and appreciation.

The good news is, Deutsche Grammophon continues its tradition of excellence in recording. Although I am still occasionally annoyed by the exaggerated dynamic range, it IS commendable. "Lulu" in particular will send you running for the volume knob more-or-less constantly.

Overall, this is an incredible value and deserves a place in the record collection of every Second Viennese School enthusiast. The performances are uniformly excellent, as is the music.

No one will ever mistake Alban Berg for the more tuneful figures in the Viennese musical pantheon, but his oeuvre remains indispensable - as is this comprehensive, challenging, and high quality set. Interested opera folk should endeavor to locate Manfred Gurlitt's parallel 'Wozzeck' to accompany Berg's much better known version, included (w/'Lulu') here.

DG has stood by the Second Viennese School above and beyond the call of duty. Their catalog since the Sixties has accumulated the best discography of Alban Berg, their only serious rival being the Pierre Boulez series for Sony, which was out of London via the BBC Sym. The only major work here that isn't a plausible best-in-class is arguably Abbado's live Wozzeck from the Vienna State Opera, but it's excellent nonetheless from the perspective of playing and recording. Many critics list it as their first choice, but if you can locate a live recording under Carlos Kleibr, you'll hear what greatness is in this masterpiece. Abbado's lead singer, Franz Grundhaber, specialized in Wozzeck, but he can't compete vocally or dramatically with Fischer-Dieskau for Karl Bohm or Walter Berry for Boulez.

With that criticism aside, everything else is unassailable. So rich is DG's back catalog that they could afford to choose among Abbado, Levine, and Karajan in several works, principally the crowning orchestral glory, the Three Pieces. They stuck with Abbado throughout, but I'm sorry DG then bypassed his early Berg recordings of orchestral works from 1972 with the London Symphony, which is so full of joy and the excitement of discovery. The remake with the Vienna Phil., listed at Amazon as 2002, cannot be faulted, however. As for the songs, the lineup of Margaret Marshall, von Otter, and Fischer-Dieskau speaks for itself; all are riveting. Boulez's Lulu stands at the top of the heap. I can't speak for Barenboim in the Piano Sonata (why him over Pollini?) or the Lasalle quartet in the Lyric Suite. But there's any number of great things here, including the Boulez-led Chamber Concerto with Zukerman and Barenboim, my first choice personally in that work. As for the Violin Cto., I think Mutter's is fine but not quite competitive with Daniel Hope or Gidon Kremer.

The only problem with this superlative collection is that most listeners who relish Alban Berg will own quite a number of these recordings already. But if that's the case, the ultra-bargain price at Amazon Marketplace makes this box set worthwhile even with duplications.

This is a really nice set at a good price. It features all DG's Berg recordings--which really are about the best around. This "Collectors' Edition" is certain to disappear soon and increase in value.

This might be the best box set I own. First of all you get what is most likely the best available versions of the Violin Concerto,Wozzeck,Lulu (3 act ver.),Lulu suite,7 Early Songs with van Otter,Der Wein and much more. The only real sub-par performance on it is the Piano Sonata op1 with Barenboim which can be found in many other recordings for a decent price. So, if you are new to Berg and you buy this, you are getting really an outstanding set of recordings which are top of the heap with great conductors and orchestras.