Schubert / Berlio : Rendering ,Schubert / Joachim : Symphony In C (Grand Duo) (Koch)

Luciano Berio (Composer), Franz Schubert (Composer), Joseph Joachim (Composer), Christoph Eschenbach (Conductor), Houston Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)

Product Details

• Orchestra: Houston Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Christoph Eschenbach
• Composer: Luciano Berio, Franz Schubert, Joseph Joachim
• Audio CD (March 18, 1997)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Koch Int'l Classics
• ASIN: B000001SJQ
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #360,391 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #21 in	Music > Classical > Featured Performers, A-Z > ( E ) > Eschenbach, Christoph
  #43 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( B ) > Berio, Luciano
  #52 in	Music > Classical > Featured Performers, A-Z > ( H ) > Houston Symphony Orchestra

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The notes Schubert left for his Tenth Symphony are so sketchy they don't sound convincing in reconstruction. Berio has used these sketches as the basis for a work that moves in and out of Schubert's style. It sounds like music written by Schubert's ghost, as he feels his personality and his contact with the real world slipping away. The result is surprisingly convincing and moving. Joachim's orchestration of Schubert's great Sonata for Piano Four Hands still serves its original purpose--to enable more people to hear this seldom-performed masterpiece. The orchestration sounds authentic. Both performances are lovingly Schubertian, and the recorded sound is gratifyingly realistic. This is a surprisingly compelling disc. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reimagining Schubert's Tenth Symphony, April 16, 2002

By	Erik North (San Gabriel, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

One of the most unusual pairings of classical works in quite some timem Luciano Berio's "Rendering" and Joseph Joachim's orchestral arrangement of Schubert's "Grand Duo", is given a first-rate performance by the often underrated Houston Symphony Orchestra and their excellent music director Christoph Eschenbach.

What prompted the Italian composer Luciano Berio to try and reconstruct sketches of what might have been Schubert's Tenth Symphony in D Major is a mystery, but he managed to do it with "Rendering", a 20th century approach to a work that was incomplete when Schubert passed away at the age of thirty-one in 1828. The reconstruction can be heard in the use of a celesta that signals moments of passage between Berio's world and that of Schubert; otherwise, the orchestration is of the same size as Schubert's well-known 8th and 9th symphonies. Eschenbach and his Houston musicians perform this tricky and somewhat difficult piece, which has elements of 20th century minimalism and 19th century structure.

The "Grand Duo" in C Major, originally for two pianos, is here performed by the orchestra in the symphonic form conceived by Joseph Joachim, the famous violinist and good friend of Johannes Brahms. The same high standards that Eschenbach applied to the Berio/Schubert "Rendering" apply here, and they demonstrate that the Houston Symphony Orchestra is one of America's best and most innovative ensembles in this field.

Highly recommended.