CD Charts
Welcome to The CD Charts, here you will find all the latest and top selling Music cds available to buy online. You can search and locate the best selling Music cd's and have them delivered to the door. We have a large selection of Music all with reviews.
Back to Home Page > Go back a page
Music : Schoenberg - Gurre-Leider ~ 4 Songs, Op. 22 / Napier, Minton, Nimsgern, J. Thomas, BBC SO, Boulez
See Larger Image |
Schoenberg - Gurre-Leider ~ 4 Songs, Op. 22 / Napier, Minton, Nimsgern, J. Thomas, BBC SO, Boulez by: Arnold Schoenberg, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez, Marita Napier, Siegmund Nimsgern, Jess Thomas, Yvonne Minton, BBC Singers, Gentlemen of the London Philharmonic Choir, BBC Choral Society |
|
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0074644845921 Label: Sony Manufacturer: Sony Number Of Discs: 2 Publisher: Sony Release Date: July 13, 1993 Studio: Sony Sales Rank: 173689 MPN: 48459 Disc 1:
Related Items:      see moreBrowse for similar items by category:
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Lacking in passion and virtuosityRelatively speaking, Boulez's 1975 Gurrelieder form London has second-rate forces. Except for the excellent chorus, we aren't hearing the foll-blown virtuosity that this work demands, fully as much as Eledtra or a major Mahler symphony. On the orchestral side this can be compensated for by Boulez's excellent conducting, but even there one wonders how committed he felt towards the work's ultra-lush romanticism. There's something too tentative going on. The real problem are th soloists. Jess Thomas makes for a bland Waldemar, and soprano Marita Napier simply hasn't the voice for Tove, and she, too is bland. With at least three rivals whose performances are sweeping and exciting (Chailly on Decca, Ozawa on Philips, and Levine in a ... Read More: Rating: - a performance with some major problemsAs a general rule I'm a big fan of Boulez's recordings of modern works, but I have one major problem with this work. When a conductor has a work with a very large orchestra the conductor has to be particularly careful about making sure that the sounds stay distinct; otherwise the individual instruments are going to get lost in the large sound of the orchestra as a whole. The sound here sounds great at the softer moments of the work, but there are critical moments that are botched. For example, the sounds in the hunting song for male choruses are very uneven. And the finale for dawn is a total mess; the sounds disappear into one, loud blaring noise. I've heard recordings that have handled these forces much better. Rating:  - A GREAT GURRELIEDER; AN EXQUISITE FOUR SONGS...Boulez is the world's greatest living conductor. He is an expert in Bruckner, Mahler, and Schoenberg. This realization of the Gurrelieder is about the best one currently available on CD. The Gurrelieder, by the way, is an huge song-cycle for full orchestra, vocal soloists, and chorus. Mostly completed by c.1900, the Gurrelieder is one of the great works of Schoenberg's First Period (c.1897-1907). When it finally premiered in Vienna in 1913, Schoenberg was hailed by the Viennese audience; this is funny in a bitterly ironic way, because by 1913 Schoenberg was already far past his First Period and well into his pantonal Expressionistic Second Period (c.1908-23). Moreover, Schoenberg was never "popular"--especially in the virulently anti-semitic ... Read More: |
|