|
| |||||||||||||||
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
There have been many recordings of Berg's Lyric Suite, written in memory of, or homage to, a brief, concealed love affair the composer had with a married woman. But this new Kronos Quartet single is the first to present it with the reconstruction, by composer and scholar George Perle, of the vocal part--a setting of a poem by Baudelaire--in the final movement, as Berg originally intended and which was only discovered in 1977. The whole work, coming in at about 27 minutes, is rich: the first movement is ardently communicative, lyrical, and occasionally joyful and the finale, now with text, ends in darkest gloom. In between, we have four other movements, one of which, marked "allegro mysterioso" is just that--mysterious and twitchy. Elsewhere there are quotes from a suite by Alexander Zemlinsky and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, another doomed affair. The playing by the Kronos is expressive and warm throughout, and Dawn Upshaw's singing of the final movement, more outwardly emotional than is usual with this soprano, is heartrending. Berg's music isn't for everyone, but anyone who is interested in Berg at all will need this unique, beautifully played, sung, and recorded disc. --Robert Levine
Product Description
On this recording of Alban Berg's Lyric Suite, Kronos reunites with Nonesuch artist Dawn Upshaw in a rare recording of the work with a vocal part in the closing movement. Six movements. Slipcase. Nonesuch. 2003.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Lyric Suite is , undoubtedly , one of the most important work of chamber music written in 20th century. After the death of the people involved in one obscure affair of the composer's life , we know that this work describes step by step one impossible passion involving the composer and Hanna Fuchs, one rich married woman , sister -in - law of Alma Mahler. George Perle wrote in the seventies one article called " The Secret Program of the Lyric Suite ". As a result of this research , we can understand a lot of things:
I- the serie begins with F and ends with H ( Fuchs Hanna)
II- The numbers 10 and 23 are always together ( the numbers of Berg and Hanna)
III- The Quotation of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
IV- The fast movements always faster , and the slow movements always slower - A consequence of the inevitable separation.
V- The tragedy in the names of the movements : Allegretto GIOVIALLE, Andante AMOROSO, Allegro MISTERIOSO, Adagio APASSIONATO, Presto DELIRANDO and Largo DESOLATO.Etc, Etc.
I- the serie begins with F and ends with H ( Fuchs Hanna)
II- The numbers 10 and 23 are always together ( the numbers of Berg and Hanna)
III- The Quotation of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
IV- The fast movements always faster , and the slow movements always slower - A consequence of the inevitable separation.
V- The tragedy in the names of the movements : Allegretto GIOVIALLE, Andante AMOROSO, Allegro MISTERIOSO, Adagio APASSIONATO, Presto DELIRANDO and Largo DESOLATO.Etc, Etc.
But the most important of this research is the discovery that the last movement was conceived with a text in mind: One Baudelaire poem, translated by the German poet Stefan Georg. Like The Vine ( Der Wein, the Concert Aria ) , Baudelaire in a german translation. This recording is the first to use this research for the sake to have all the secrets revealed. And one Soprano with a string quartet is a normal ensemble for the Second Viennese School. Schoenberg has his Second Quartet and Webern has some short works for voice and String Quartet. In this sense this is a very important recording. And very, very well played and sang . The only problem , to me, is that it is a little strange to hear the soprano line always doubled by a instrument. In the works quoted above ( By Schoenberg and Webern) the voice is always independent of the instruments. As Berg wrote al notes only for the quartet Perle and the Players did what they though it was correct. The singer must sing with the same notes of the quartet. It sounds strange for me. But I think this is the best we can do in this case. We will never know how it would be a definitive version of this last movement. I prefer to listen the Quartet version. But this is really one important way to know more of a work so crucial . And, as I said before, The Kronos and Upshaw are fantastic. My only regret : why only 32 minutes in a CD. ? It would be perfect with Berg's Quartet opus 3 !
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By Jeff Abell
Format:Audio CD
Alban Berg's Lyric Suite is one of the real classics of modern music. If anyone thinks that atonal music is dry or academic, this work will convince them otherwise. It's expressive, heart-felt music of great intensity, and filled with surprises (like a quotation from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde!). Some years back, composer George Perle (an expert on Berg's music) discovered that the entire work is a kind of diary of an overwhelming infatuation that the married composer had for another man's wife. Moreover, Berg had sent her a copy of the work in which the final movement included a setting of a German translation of Baudelaire's "De Produndis." This recording with soprano Dawn Upshaw therefore reveals the music's "hidden agenda" of secret amorous admission. Frankly, the work has stood up for 75 years without us knowing that stuff, but it adds a spark to the tinder. Kronos does this work proud. I've heard snotty musician friends diss the Kronos, saying they commission new works because they don't have the chops to play the classics. Lies, I say! I own the Arditti's performance of this work, and I'll take the Kronos version hands down: it's passionate, insightful, richly colored, and dashing. Dawn Upshaw's sometimes a bit out of her range in the vocal part, but still is one of the few singers who can make atonal music for voice actually sound like music. Buy this, it's hot!
9 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Nonesuch's advertising is in fact correct.
The packaging clearly states, "First recording of the vocal part to the last movement of Alban Berg's Lyric Suite, as reconstructed by George Perle, published by Universal Edition."
Vanda Tabery, in the Prazak Quartet recording of the work, does not sing Perle's reconstruction. She certainly does not sing the music published by Universal Edition, which would have been unavaiable to her at the time.
Perle had to make a number of important decisions about register-placement of the vocal line in preparing his edition. A leading Berg scholar as well as a terrific composer, Perle made these decisions based on his profound knowledge of Berg's style and of this score in particular.
Tabery's vocal line differs from Perle's in several respects, and her selection of registers seems at times primarily guided by the compass of her voice. There are registral leaps that break up lines clearly intended by Berg to remain intact. These sorts of details matter just as much as an unmotivated octave displacement in the middle of a Verdian musical line.
So: Perle's research, heard on the Nonesuch recording, is demonstrably superior to Tabery's. From the textual standpoint, the Kronos recording likely stands much closer to Berg's intentions than the Prazak's. Nonesuch, which was well aware of the Prazak/Tabery Lyric Suite, did not engage in false advertising.
The packaging clearly states, "First recording of the vocal part to the last movement of Alban Berg's Lyric Suite, as reconstructed by George Perle, published by Universal Edition."
Vanda Tabery, in the Prazak Quartet recording of the work, does not sing Perle's reconstruction. She certainly does not sing the music published by Universal Edition, which would have been unavaiable to her at the time.
Perle had to make a number of important decisions about register-placement of the vocal line in preparing his edition. A leading Berg scholar as well as a terrific composer, Perle made these decisions based on his profound knowledge of Berg's style and of this score in particular.
Tabery's vocal line differs from Perle's in several respects, and her selection of registers seems at times primarily guided by the compass of her voice. There are registral leaps that break up lines clearly intended by Berg to remain intact. These sorts of details matter just as much as an unmotivated octave displacement in the middle of a Verdian musical line.
So: Perle's research, heard on the Nonesuch recording, is demonstrably superior to Tabery's. From the textual standpoint, the Kronos recording likely stands much closer to Berg's intentions than the Prazak's. Nonesuch, which was well aware of the Prazak/Tabery Lyric Suite, did not engage in false advertising.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
I hope the enthusiasts will forgive me ...
... but there needs to be a warning here for casual listeners or those with more traditional tastes. If those describe you, this is not for you! Read more
Published on April 27, 2006 by Mr. Enigma
4.0 out of 5 stars
Neither the best, nor the first
Unfortunately, Nonesuch's shoddy research shows here -- this was NOT the first recording of the Lyric Suite with a soprano singing Berg's secret text in the Largo desolato. Read more
Published on January 31, 2005 by Matthew B. Tepper
5.0 out of 5 stars
terrific recording!
This is a must have for any Berg or 20th Century Music admirers.
This CD is a winner of 46th Grammy Award in "Best Chamber Music"
This is the most important 12-tone... Read more
Published on February 12, 2004 by Sungu Okan
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kronos strikes again
Kronos and Dawn Upshaw (some of the most versitile performers around) come together to play this gut wrenching suite by Berg, who took serialism to a more emtional and musical... Read more
Published on December 31, 2003 by Zachary Wilder
