Schoenberg - Die Glückliche Hand · Variations for Orchestra, Op.31 · Verklärte Nacht / Nimsgern · BBC Orch. · NY Phil. · Boulez

Arnold Schoenberg (Artist), Pierre Boulez (Artist), Siegmund Nimsgern (Artist), BBC Singers (Artist), BBC Symphony Orchestra (Artist), New York Philharmonic (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 13, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002819
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,757 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #77 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Forms & Genres > Variations

Track Listings

1. Die glückliche Hand, 1-act drama, Op. 18: Scene 1.

2. Die glückliche Hand, 1-act drama, Op. 18: Scene 2.

3. Die glückliche Hand, 1-act drama, Op. 18: Scene 3. Kräftig bewegt. Takt 89

4. Die glückliche Hand, 1-act drama, Op. 18: Scene 3. Viel rascher. Allegro. Takt 126

5. Die glückliche Hand, 1-act drama, Op. 18: Scene 3. Mäßig bewegt. Takt 166

6. Die glückliche Hand, 1-act drama, Op. 18: Scene 4.

7. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Introduktion. Mäßig, ruhig

8. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Thema. Molto moderato

9. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Variation 1. Moderato

10. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Variation 2. Langsam

11. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Variation 3. Mäßig

12. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Variation 4. Walzertempo

13. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Variation 5. Bewegt

14. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Variation 6. Andante

15. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Variation 7. Langsam

16. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Variation 8. Sehr rasch

17. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Variation 9. L'istesso tempo. Aber etwas langsamer

18. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31: Finale. Mäßig schnell

19. Verklärte Nacht, for string orchestra (arr. from String Sextet, Op.4): Grave

20. Verklärte Nacht, for string orchestra (arr. from String Sextet, Op.4): Molto rallentando. Takt 100

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Schoenberg's music lives on -- proof that he was great, December 10, 1999

By 

John Harrington (anywhere, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Schoenberg - Die Glückliche Hand · Variations for Orchestra, Op.31 · Verklärte Nacht / Nimsgern · BBC Orch. · NY Phil. · Boulez (Audio CD)

For decades spoil sports like "denisdiderot" below have been attacking Schoenberg's 12 tone system, saying, for example, that his music has no relation to "natural acoustics" and to the way "human beings make sense of sound". Well, last I checked, I'm a human being, one who happens to love this music, and I join musicians and music enthusiasts around the globe in praise of Schoenberg's work. The music of a "mediocre musical talent" doesn't last 50 years after his death. A talentless hack is forgotten. Schoenberg hasn't been forgotten and never will be. I dare say, though the real Denis Diderot is certainly remembered, the person below using Diderot's name as an alias will be forgotten shortly after his own death. Schoenberg will live on in the hearts and minds of musicians and music lovers everywhere as he does today.

Schoenberg's music is not for everyone, but then there's a lot in music that isn't for everyone. Try to accept that, though you may not connect with this composer, there are many who honestly do, and you may be missing something.

As to the person below who suggests we "use this site for what it was meant for", my understanding is that the purpose of Amazon reviews is to register opinions about the music. It is in that spirit that I have offered my review.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll feel lucky when the Happy Hand touches you, November 1, 2007

By 

Sam - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Schoenberg - Die Glückliche Hand · Variations for Orchestra, Op.31 · Verklärte Nacht / Nimsgern · BBC Orch. · NY Phil. · Boulez (Audio CD)

Die glückliche Hand alone is already a good reason for purchasing this CD - this work is very rarely recorded (Boulez's was only the second recording ever, and it was issued in 1981!), the few other recorded alternatives being mainly live performances (including one by as legendary a conductor as Hermann Scherchen).

Here is your only opportunity to get the full libretto, and what strikes one is that it almost entirely consists of scene indications, with the Man's words reduced to a minimum (he mainly admires the woman's beauty and wishes he could stay with her forever) and at both ends of the work, the choir of 6 men and 6 women blaming him for seeking things that he cannot obtain while he could be happy with his self. Numerous and quick changes in the colour and intensity of light are requested by Schoenberg throughout, and he describes very precisely what the characters should do on the stage and their surroundings - you would obviously benefit even more from the whole of it if you experienced the work on a stage or at least on film, rather than trying to imagine the scenery! I recommend you to read the whole of them before listening, otherwise you will end up the nose in the booklet without hardly any time to listen to the music!

The Happy Hand depicts a man's quest for love from a woman who excites him but always ultimately rejects him to join her lover, a dandy. The lovers are supposed to appear to him as in a dream, and he by the way hardly ever sees them as he mostly stands on the front facing the public while they are moving behind. This `hand' is supposed to represent what urges one to make the same mistakes repeatedly while following one's desires. Psychoanalysis determined the choice of the subject, with the obstacles to the man's dreams and desires being represented by a bat-winged cat-like beast sucking blood from his nape at the very beginning and end (and taking the shape of a rock that falls upon the man in between!), or the rage of a couple of workmen as the man manages to create a golden jewel after breaking an anvil on a single hammer stroke...

You also get a fine recording of Variations op. 31, though Boulez achieved much more unity, perfection of ensemble and a greater sense of nuances in his subsequent recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (coupled with his only recording of Pelleas and Melisande on Warner).

Boulez also conducts a dramatic performance of the string orchestra version of Die verklärte Nacht, with the feelings of the characters depicted as vividly as possible without the work being overly romanticized and sentimentalised - so to me he finds here a better balance in this work than Karajan, who tends to use it (like Strauss' Metamorphosen) as a mean of displaying the virtuosity of his strings. It also makes a fascinating comparison with Boulez's other recording - the one of the string sextet original scoring.

The way Boulez's recordings of Schoenberg works on Sony have been combined on CD leaves me puzzled though - for instance you have here three works representing three different steps in the composer's career, whose unchronological order in the tracking moreover makes the overall listening sound like a series of anachronisms - Die verklärte Nacht sounds almost reactionary coming after the Variations! Coupling Die glückliche Hand with Erwartung would have made much more sense, all the more as not everyone will be drawn both to postromantic and dodecaphonic works. Here is maybe the reason why the CD was deleted despite containing an account of the much-loved Transfigured Night by a great conductor. And there are surprisingly no many more alternatives left in the catalogue, apart from Karajan...

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth it for Gluckliche Hand..., October 7, 2003

By 

Bob "prog45be" (Mobile, Alabama United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Schoenberg - Die Glückliche Hand · Variations for Orchestra, Op.31 · Verklärte Nacht / Nimsgern · BBC Orch. · NY Phil. · Boulez (Audio CD)

It's pretty hard to find a first-rate recording of one of Schoenberg's operas that comes complete with a libretto. Not only is this a first-rate recording with a libretto, it's also a bargain! I'm not too wild about the Boulez rendition of Op. 4 though. I like Karajan's version much better, but that's just a personal preference.