Customer Reviews

Mozart: 'Gran Partita' Serenade, K.361 / Berg: Kammerkonzert (Chamber Concerto) ~ Boulez

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Previous reviewers have been unnecessarily harsh about this remarkable new release. Part of the appeal here is the prospect of hearing Pierre Boulez in his eighties (but conducting with more vigour than most 20 year olds) working with a group of truly first class musicians.

The result is a magnificent combination of Mozart and Berg. As one would expect, these are beautiful but unsentimental performances, exquisitely balanced, full of detail, with plently of rhythmic vigour, The tempi in Mozart's glorious Gran Partita are on the quick side but not exceptionally so. What is most impressive is the sense of structure - Mozart's perfect forms come across with great clarity: the famous Adagio travels its sublime arc in one effortless sweep; the variations are also a model of lucidity and charm; the finale, which can sometimes sound a bit stiff, dances along with panache. In general, the marvellous richness of Mozart's score (with its wonderful basset horns) may sounds less romantic than in many performances, but it communicates with freshness and urgency. If you want a recording to listen to in your slippers with a glass of sherry this may not be the one - Boulez is not a slippers and sherry kind of octogenarian.

The pairing with Alban Berg is imaginative and exciting. Berg is certainly the most Mozartean of the Second Viennese School - like Mozart, he had a genius for writing opera and like the older composer, his music is as playful as it is lyrical. The Chamber Concerto is an intricate work in which Berg plays some of the most complicated structural games imaginable. It is worth pointing out that relatively few conductors dare to tackle the piece because it's textural layers and the density of its counterpoint looks so baffling in the score. Few works are more challenging to play or to listen to but Boulez, Uchida and Tetzlaff, along with members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, play the work with enviable ease, communicating its extraordinary emotional range from post-Mahlerian nostalgia to expressionistic nightmare to an almost Post-Modernist sense wit and irony. This is an exceptional disc of two Viennese masterpieces, intelligently coupled together.

The 'Gran Partita' Serenade K. 361 is the most recorded of Mozart's three great wind serenades, and it flourishes best under a conductor -- with so many movements, one longs for a point of view and for the kind of contrast that a great conductor provides (Furtwangler, Klemperer, and Stokowski all made notable recorings). Boulez takes a streamlined, frankly unsentimental view, an approach aided by the fairly thin, piquant Parisian woodwinds of his Ensemble Intercontemporain. More to the point, he varies the mood wthin each movement, so we don't get a uniformly lush, burgeoning sound, which is what wind groups always resort to, since each soloist wants to shine on his own.

True, the opening movement scants Mozart's richness and depth -- it feels a bit impatient -- and the finale breaks all speed records, but the whole is engaging and vivacious. A Gran Partita this light on its feet can't help but be welcome, unless you expect Viennese Gemutlichkeit, which isn't much in evidence. The players are all good, and so is the recorded sound, even if a bit flimsy on the bottom end.

For many lovers of Mozart the Berg Chamber Concerto will be a bitter pill, and there's no doubt that it poses daunting challenges if you try to follow its harmonic logic analytically. It would take super-ears to keep up. But if you tune in creatively, listening for passing moments of color and mood, this work has a wealth of delightful touches. Boulez's approach isn't jagged or angular, either -- he seems as genial as in the Mozart -- which is another plus. Uchida and Tetzlaff add star power (particularly her), so there's a sparkle in the playing that renders the work much less dry, if one is tempted to think of abstract 12-tone music that way.

In short, the Berg can be turned into an enjoyable experience if you let it, and the Mozart is bottled sunlight. Highly recommended.

This is a strange disc. Decca has brought together the Gran Partita of Mozart and the Chamber Concerto of Berg because their instrumentation matches, even if their listening demographics generally don't. The disc might hold some attraction, because very rarely does one get to hear Pierre Boulez conduct Mozart. His extremely detailed approach is honest to the score, trimming away the excess that became attached to Mozart during Romantic era, but it also might reveal to listeners of a more modern persuasion just what dull note-spinning Mozart can be. Yes, the Ensemble Intercontemporain pulls off a flawless performance, but for a group consisting of hyper-virtuosos this Classical piece must seem like a walk in the park.

Berg's three-movement "Chamber Concerto" for violin, piano and 13 wind instruments was written between 1923 and 1925 and shows a mastery of the 12-tone method. The first movement begins with a brief little motto incorporating the names of his friends Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and then proceeds through a series of variations. For the most part, this sounds like an especially zany Mahler, and Berg's Viennese heritage is especially evident in the langsamer Walztempo. The second movement is an Adagio, much more tranquil than the first both in its slower tempo and its reduced scoring as the piano mainly sits out. The last movement is a round that subjects a succession of different melodies to the same rhythms.

The Berg Chamber Concerto is a seminal work of 20th century music, and in general it's great fun. However, Boulez has already recorded it twice before, with better pairings. A mid-price Sony Classical disc reissues the Chamber Concerto with two other pieces by Berg, while a Deutsche Grammophon release pairs it with two fine Stravinsky works. I would suggest going for the DG disc, as it is a digital recording made at IRCAM with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, just like this Decca disc here, but the Stravinsky pieces are more likely to appeal to fans of modernism than the Mozart here.

The liner notes includes an interview with Boulez, Uchida and Tetzlaff on the Chamber Concerto, though the Mozart gets no explication at all.

I bought this CD for the Berg Chamber Concerto. I have Boulez's two other commercial recordings. I find the Berg Concerto to be one of his more difficult pieces and I'm always looking for an interpretation that makes it feel more integrated and of-a-piece. This wasn't the one. It was more harsh and irritating than Boulez's other recordings and the sound is close to the microphone, which might account for these qualities. Also, I've come to the conclusion that I'm not supposed to be made comfortable by this piece of music. It's a valid and effective interpretation, but I like Boulez's Sony recording better.

Then I put on the Mozart as a curiosity. I've never heard of Boulez performing Mozart so I expected a negligible run-through based on the fact that he had the necessary players on hand and had to fill out the disk. Wow! Was I wrong. This is one of my favorite Mozart recordings. It's crisp, clean and energetically propelled. It sounds every instrument but unifies the piece. It has the best elements of historically informed performance sound (although probably not intended) and modern orchestral interpretation. I never got bored, which is easy to do in other performances of this piece. (I usually can't even finish listening to it.) It's not Mozart's biggest accomplishment. Now I'd love to hear the late symphonies by Boulez, and maybe Don Giovanni. Boulez has given us some big surprises on disk that nobody ever thought he would touch - like Richard Strauss and Bruckner. Now the Mozart can join that surprise package. And it's the best of the surprises.

The basic concept here, while not original, is worthy, and one which I have myself, in an informal way, put into service over the years: a quartet by Haydn followed by something by the serial Schoenberg, a Mozart quintet opening for some Berg. The contrasts are bracing, the similarities exciting. So the premise is not my problem with this new Boulez recording. And it is certainly not with Boulez latest reading of Berg's Chamber Concerto which is exemplary if not quite my favorite: that remains Atherton's rendering with the London Sinfonietta. No, my peeve is rather with that gigantic slab of torpid, turgid, frankly tedious Mozart that precedes it. Now, I will readily admit that Mozart is not quite my meat, for lack of a better word. I much prefer Papa Haydn's fearsome wit and, certainly, Ludwig Van's brooding to Amadeus's playful whimsy. Indeed, I only truly love Wolfgang when he's at his most Haydnesque, say, in the Haydn quartets, or somber and Beethovenian as in the late string quintets. But Boulez's Mozart is anything but whimsical here, and hardly playful. He's dry as bone, full of scurvy notes, and just dull, however scalpel sharp the execution. The impression is of a bunch of brilliant musicians being forced through a student exercise and finding no relish in it. A Mozart lover will perhaps find Boulez's approach interesting, if only for the sake of contrasting it with interpretations more convincingly in the Mozartian spirit, but if you came for the Berg, as I did, I suggest nursing some Viennese coffee in the lobby before it starts.

Noting that my original review here was not considered helpful by 5 out of 6 readers, I am rewriting it to get straight to the point: if you are thinking of buying this CD primarily for the Mozart, forget it. (I am reviewing only the Mozart.)

Ensemble Intercontemporain fails to realize the depth of the Mozart Gran Partita. Yes, there are many parts of this serenade that are lighthearted and jovial; and I appreciate the sense of fun that this performance brings to those sections; however, the players should begin the piece with a sense of awe and wonder in anticipation of the great journey it is about to undertake through a full range of human emotions from profoundly contemplative to jocular. It should even hint at the uncertainty and trepidation that one feels as he or she leaves his/her comfort zone to begin a long trip. Or, to change the metaphor, the musicians should convey a slight degree of reticence as if approaching a person of great eminence. Instead, they just plunge in coarsely as if nothing of great moment were about to occur, capriciously applying a liberal serving of staccato. I am not sure if staccato is indicated in the score; but even if it is, many wiser musicians have chosen not to shorten the notes too much. The group also speeds through the music, letting the notes fly by and thus losing many wonderful details.

Other movements pass by superficially, with too much attention to musicologically correct, but heartless, execution of grace notes. The first of the great slow movements would normally send the Mozart lover into ecstasy; but this group prevents that with their chirpy phrasing. To hear the serenade played as the great composition that it is, listen to the Netherlands Wind Ensemble: Serenade in B-Flat Major: Gran Partita (Hybr). They achieve the depth of the slow and moderate movements and yet fully project the high spirits of the fast sections.

Thanks Greg fora excellent , NO HYPE review, No lies like most (99%) of all amazon reviews...lies...your's is spot on...i do not own this cd,,,thanks to the few clips offered...what lifeless, cold, playing on the Mozart and the Berg clips offers nothing over the other Boulez recording....
You can tell by the cd cover photo, all 3, Boulez, Tezfal, UchidAAAA, are standing around, looking as if they have nothing better to do THAN TO TRY TO MAKE SOME $$$'s recording a cd...Boulez says *hey you 2 guys,,,want to mkae a CD??*...*Sure papa Pierre*...anytime a photo of the performers is on the front cover,,,you can bet its going to be a dud, bomb,,,and sure enough this time as well, DUD!...LASTLY,,,what gives this cd away that its a bomb is the fact the 2 pieces (composers) chosen are from 2 totally different styles...JUST WHAT WAS BOULEZ THINKING!!???...Time for Pierre to lay up his baton. ...His 2nd viennese recordings are spectatular, 1st rate,,,but alas his time has to come to PASS HIS BATON TO NEW YOUNG FRESH BLOOD...LET SOMEONE ELSE MAKE A LIVING...he has enough $$$ in the bank...a bit greedy is you ask me...and I hope Pierre reads my comments...I really hope he does..
paul Best
New Orleans
(I expect 100% found this review NOT helpful),,(notice no one believes Greg told the truth,)

Jan 4,2009