LaSalle Quartet NEUE WIENER SCHULE Schoenberg - Berg - Webern Streichquartette
This box supposedly offers all the string quartets of what it calls the "Neue Wiener Schule", but, as so often, completeness has not quite been achieved. Missing is the fairly substantial Slow Movement of 1905, included on the Quartetto Italiano's recent Webern disc—and this despite the playing time on one side of this set's Webern LP being under twelve minutes. But we get an initial recording of Schoenberg's D major Quartet of 1897, the first important work of his performed in public. It is the earliest music here and may be described as Dvofelian in its ideas, especially in the outer movements, Brahmsian in the way these are developed. While not comparable for interest with the other items, this does show the composer's mastery of traditional procedures, notwithstanding his completely reworking the first two movements on Zemlinsky's advice and making changes to the finale. Though published by Faber only in 1966, Schoenberg retained the score throughout his life, and his evident affection for this open, friendly music is understandable. It sets few interpretative problems and enjoyment of this LaSalle performance is marred only by omission of the first movement repeat.
Schoenberg occupies three LPs, his pupils one each, and the Op. 7 Quartet, his official No. 1, takes a whole disc. The impact of all these works derives partly from tension between deeply expressive content and the unrelenting discipline with which their material is shaped ; this equation is balanced in a variety of ways and in Op. 7 there is an extraordinary reconciliation of spontaneous feeling with close argument. Dating from 1904-6, it is a vast single movement of rare beauty, with passages modelled on Schubert (Quintet, D956) and, again, Brahms, though far more personal in expression than the 1897 Quartet. It is, indeed, the best introduction to Schoenberg, and I believe he rather overestimated listeners' difficulties when, long after its composition, he said if he had to write the work again he would make four separate movements.
No other set of the quartets of these three associates is on the market, but readers may possess the currently obtainable alternative versions of individual works, and will be interested in comparisons. Though condemned by reviewers when they appeared, I warmly admire the Kohon ensemble's Schoenberg Quartets. Their Op. 7 (Vox STGBY602, 6/68) benefits from extreme clarity, both in performance and in a recording which, particularly as stereo, was ahead of its time, and is a real aid to grasp ing these pages' teeming detail. In fact there is little to choose between them and the LaSalle Quartet (both are American ensembles) : each is able to meet all this great music on its own terms at interpretative and executive levels, and both respond whole-heartedly to Op. 7's highly emotional music. The LaSalle are given a slightly fuller acoustic so in their hands the music has less sharp edges ; this serves the slow section well, but the Kohon's clarity allows them an advantage in the finale. Neither quite matches the long-deleted Philips/ Juilliard in the lyrical passages.
The LaSalle have no difficulty in outclassing their Op. 10 rivals, the Ramor Quartet on Turnabout (TV34032S, 12/67). The latter's is a worthy performance too drily recorded ; in the last two movements, settings of Stefan George poems, MarieTherese Escribano is very good, though in the finale, contrary to Schoenberg's markings, she is sometimes covered by the strings. The LaSalle bring grace and warmth to passages where the Ramor labours; in fact I've not heard so refined an interpretation before. Mostly when accompanying Margaret Price they play with marvellous delicacy, though at some points they hold back quite unduly—when Schoenberg wants ff.': Their singer has the advantage of superior recording, but I feel she is less in sympathy with the composer during Litanei than Escribano. The final Entruecking is an improvement, and indeed altogether beautiful as singing; yet still Miss Price ignores many of Schoenberg's dynamics.
Less luxuriant of texture than Op. 7, this Op. 10 Quartet advances further, and in particular the last two movements venture far beyond traditional tonality, even by late nineteenth-century standards. With Dos Buck der Thingenden Gdrten Op. 15, which also uses Stefan George texts, it marks Schoenberg's crucial move into free atonality. The appositeness of Entruecking's first line—"Ich fühle luft von anderem planeten"—has often been remarked, yet two decades later, in 1927, when he composed his Third Quartet Op. 30, Schoenberg had gone much further. It should be admitted that the last two Quartets are less radiant than the early pair, but this hermetic aspect is due to a greater complexity and condensation of the composer's thought—not to the 12-tone bogy, which is a prime red herring for listeners and best forgotten. Op. 30 is an intensely agitated score and one, like Bart and late Beethoven, that gives hearers little respite: so much happens at once. I like the objective air the Kohon bring to it (STGBY618, 10/69), but, again, the LaSalle are warmer, and this may help newcomers; there are places, too, as in the Rondo, when they get the rhythm flowing more naturally.
Like Op. 30, the final Quartet Op. 37, composed almost another ten years later in 1936, appears severely classical in organisation beside the romantic exuberance of Opp. 7 and 10. In organisation yet not in feeling, and the Kohon project this music's explosive vehemence, especially in the outer movements, to memorable effect. Predictably, the LaSalle push less hard, but they are just as much inside this music, and they are particularly successful in putting over the Comodo's oddly rarefied strength. They remind us, too, that whatever its complications, the basic gesture of this music remains as Viennese as Schubert or Brahms in their more relaxed moods.
In Berg's two works the LaSalle's rivals are again the Ramor ensemble, who couple them on Turnabout TV34021S (5/67). Similar comments apply as to those on Schoenberg's Op. 10 above and theirs is an acceptable bargain version of these pieces. It should be emphasised that despite its low opus number Berg's Op. 3 is a mature work composed when he was 25, and, in common with the posthumously published Webern Quartet of 1905, is far more advanced than Schoenberg's D major written at 23. Of course, they had the advantage of Schoenberg as a teacher, whereas he was almost self-taught; also, Op. 3 was revised in 1920 and again in 1924. A powerful expression of Berg's individuality, it still has debts to his master's Op. 7, but its supercharged assertion seems more directly comparable with Schoenberg's Op. 37, no matter how different their manner of organisation. The catalogue's lack of a satisfying account of Berg's Lyric Suite (1926) hitherto is lamentable, and DGG should issue the LaSalle coupling of this and Op. 3 separately, for they are at their finest in this composer. Consider the Allegro mysterioso, which here is like a hovering cloud of sparks, passionate yet insubstantial. Maybe the closing Largo desolato needs more deliberation, greater heaviness, but remarkable again is their handling of the last page, when, as if across an infinite distance, the music spins itself into silence. For Webern the LaSalle have a formidable rival in the Quartetto Italiano (Philips 6500 105, 7/71). It would be impossible to surpass the LaSalle's refinement with No. 4 of Op. 5, yet generally the Italiano make these pages sound more dramatic, more lyrical. It is the same with the Op. 9 Bagatelles: obviously both performances are in the highest class as quartet playing, but the Italiano project these jewelled fragments with greater emphasis by which I don't mean more loudly. Webern's Quartet Op. 28 is a more remote work, having a comparable relation to his Opp. 5 and 9 as Schoenberg's last two Quartets to his first. Again it is the Quartetto Italiano who tell us most.
A booklet accompanies these LPs, bringing together all available documents relating to these works. Apart from reviews of the Schoenberg Opp. 7 and 10 premieres in an appendix, there is no critical or musicological comment and only primary sources are used. There are analyses by the composers themselves, articles, extracts from lectures by them, letters, reproductions of MS and photographs. Some, like Berg's essay, "Why is Schoenberg's music so hard to understand ?", are familiar already, but other items, such as Webern's 1912 article on Schoenberg are rare. Indeed, some of this material, like the correspondence between Webern and Berg from Universal's archives, is published for the first time. A valuable compilation.
It is not easy to summarise. Readers seeking to add all these masterpieces to their collection should be well satsified with this set, but those who already have the Kohon/Schoenberg recordings and the Quartetto Italiano's Webern may rest content . . . especially if next year DGG put out the LaSalle/Berg coupling separately. (M.H., Gramophone, November 1971)
CD 1:
Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951)
String Quartet No.1 in D minor, Op.7
1) 1. Nicht zu rasch - [12:02]
2) 2. Kräftig (nicht zu rasch) - [11:48]
3) 3. Mäßig (langsame viertel) - [11:52]
4) 4. Mäßig (heiter) [7:26]
String Quartet No.2, Op.10
5) 1. Mäßig [5:55]
6) 2. Sehr rasch [6:43]
7) 3. Litanei (Langsam) [5:40]
8) 4. Entrückung (Sehr langsam) [10:56]
CD 2:
Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951)
String Quartet No.3, Op.30
1) 1. Moderato [8:57]
2) 2. Adagio [8:17]
3) 3. Intermezzo (Allegro moderato) [6:52]
4) 4. Rondo [6:14]
String Quartet No.4, Op.37
5) 1. Allegro molto, energico [9:06]
6) 2. Comodo [7:10]
7) 3. Largo [7:31]
8) 4. Allegro [8:03]
CD 3:
Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951)
String Quartet in D major (1897)
1) 1. Allegro molto [6:20]
2) 2. Intermezzo. Andantino grazioso [3:42]
3) 3. Andante con moto [6:52]
4) 4. Allegro [4:41]
Anton Webern (1883 - 1945)
5 Movements for String Quartet, Op.5
5) 1. Heftig bewegt [2:23]
6) 2. Sehr langsam [2:19]
7) 3. Sehr bewegt [0:41]
8) 4. Sehr langsam [1:37]
9) 5. In zarter Bewegung [3:23]
10) String Quartet (1905) [12:10]
6 Bagatelles for String Quartet, Op.9
11) 1. Mässig [0:35]
12) 2. Leicht bewegt [0:23]
13) 3. Ziemlich fliessend [0:22]
14) 4. Sehr langsam [0:45]
15) 5. Äusserst langsam [1:12]
16) 6. Fliessend [0:34]
String Quartet, Op.28
17) 1. Mässig [3:56]
18) 2. Gemächlich [1:46]
19) 3. Sehr fliessend [2:18]
CD 4:
Alban Berg (1885 - 1935)
Lyric Suite for String Quartet (1926)
1) I. Allegretto gioviale [2:55]
2) II. Andante amoroso [5:35]
3) III. Allegro misterioso - Trio estatico [3:17]
4) IV. Adagio appassionato [4:59]
5) V. Presto delirando - Tenebroso [4:27]
6) VI. Largo desolato [5:27]
String Quartet, Op.3
7) 1. Langsam [8:57]
8) 2. Mässige viertel [9:37]
1971 Polydor International GmbH, Hamburg
4 Compact Discs ADD
419 994-2 GCM4
You can buy it on Amazon.com
You can download here: CD One / CD Two / CD Three / CD Four
PASSWORD: elhenry.MusicIsTheKey
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