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	Schoenberg: The String Quartets Arnold Schoenberg, Evelyn Lear, ... Philips, 2000 average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In a way which invites comparison to Bartók's six, Schoenberg's four quartets span his career. The striking thing, perhaps, is how unified they are in "voice," despite the composer's epochal adventures in How to Organize Pitch. These pieces are seldom performed by string quartets in the states, and it is difficult to see why, since in many respects, they are no harder on the ears than the Bartók quartets, which enjoy a solid berth in chamber recitals.

The first movement of the third quartet plays itself out in a very scherzando vein; it may even strike some as strangely cheerful in activity, considering its acerbic chromaticism.

The third movement of the fourth quartet is, simply, beautiful. If anyone wonders if Schoenberg was capable of writing beautiful music, this Largo is quite possibly the strongest case pro.

There is a restlessness to the music, it is always surging ... somewhere. So I am not sure that it can be my favorite music in the world; but it is well made, perfectly suited to the medium of the string quartet, and there are often passages of beauty which startle with their strangeness.

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Wonderful rendition of some sadly underplayed masterpieces

Schoenberg's quartets are a good survey of his development as a composer. The early two quartets are tonal and late-romantic in style. They are accessible, full of pathos and contrapuntally dense. The last two quartets are in the full twelve-tone style of Schoenberg's mature period. These are also wonderful, but in a very different way. Full of interesting shapes and colors, like a Kandinsky painting. The performances here are top-notch, and render this potentially difficult music with great naturalness and feeling. Difficult listening, but very rewarding.

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Schoenberg .... "mit Schlag"

If you order coffee in an Austrian coffee house and say "mit Schlag," you get a lovely dollop of whipped cream tossed on top. Very Viennese! These ripely romantic performances of Schoenberg's notoriously difficult string quartets are something like a musical equivalent of strong coffee 'mit Schlag.' By which I mean no disrespect .... after listening to these quartets for some years now, I've come to hear them the same way I hear the Brahms quartets. And Schoenberg would have been very pleased with that development. Janus-like, he always presented two faces to the world: Champion of Tradition and Fearless Modernist. The New Vienna Quartet emphasizes the former and to good and enjoyable effect. On the other hand, there is something to be said for the more precisely played - if more clinical sounding - performances by the Arditti or LaSalle quartets. They both celebrate Schoenberg the Modernist. I suspect most people will prefer these New Vienna performances: they humanize a composer whose music still suffers from the canard that it is more about mathematical manipulation than about feeling and melodic inspiration. Nonsense! Based on any honest musical criteria, the great quartet cycles of the 20th century are those by Bartok, Shostakovich, and Schoenberg, and no one who loves great chamber music can afford to ignore these three cycles. (Or a fourth: American Elliot Carter's masterful five quartets). So you really should make the acquaintance of the Schoenberg quartets. But if Schoenberg still scares you a little (or a lot), just remember to order "mit Schlag!" Given the price of the Philips "Duo" set, you're not risking much in any event.

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Gemutlich Schoenberg

Leave it to a Viennese Quartet to make Schoenberg sound like far out Brahms. I grew up on the marvelous Kolisch Quartet's monoaural recordings of these masterworks. While the New Vienna Quartet does not have the authority of the Kolisch (Rudolph Kolisch was Schoenberg's son-in-law) it is an excellent reading of this music, one that brings out the classical aspects of this stunning music.

The readings of the two tonal quartets are excellent. The New Vienna gets the marvelous concision and motivic integrety of the d minor quartet...a work that bends the tonal system at least as far as Reger. The 2nd quartet is just as stunning with beautiful singing by Evelyn Lear in the last two movements.

The real find in this set is the 3rd quartet. I have often found this piece to be the most antiseptic of the quartets and have not often found myself drawn to performances. This performance has caused me to reevaluate the piece. It is almost neoclassic in it's form and quite well argued. It almost sounds like Brahms at times, although Brahms in an atonal context.

The final quartet is also beautifully played and one of Schoenberg's finest pieces. Though oestensibly atonal, it often sounds centered on d minor.

At a twofer price, this CD is a great way to introduce yourself to these seminal 20th century masterworks.

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3 1/2 good string quartet recordings

This is generally a fine recording. I enjoy the recording of the 3rd quartet particularly. First movement is more leisurely than the LaSalle Quartet's recording but otherwise just fine.

But what a horrible crime the engineers have committed in the 2nd Quartet! The last two movements can be agonizingly beautiful. Not here. When the soprano makes her entrance, they hush the quartet -- as if they had dropped a cloth over it. Then when her part is finished (measure 116 of the fourth movement), up comes the cloth and the full sound of the strings is restored (mm 117-156). Same thing happens in the 3rd movement. Was this in Evelyn Lear's contract? It certainly turns a lot of good music to fuzz.

Happily there are a number of recordings of the 2nd all by itself. (You can even have the string orchestra performance by I Musici de Montreal on Chandos.) So if you need recordings of the less recorded 3rd and 4th, this might be a fine choice.

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reviews: page 1, 2



Tracks
Movement 1 | Movement 2 | Movement 3 | Movement 4 | I. Massig | II. Sehr rasch | III. Litanei. Langsam | IV. Entruckung. Sehr langsam | 1. Moderato | 2. Adagio | 3. Intermezzo. Allegro moderato | 4. Rondo, Molto moderato | 1. Allegro molto, energico | 2. Comodo | 3. Largo | 4. Allegro

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