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| 1. Verklarte Nacht Op.4: Grave |
| 2. Verklarte Nacht Op.4: Molto rallentando |
| 3. Verklarte Nacht Op.4: Pesante |
| 4. Verklarte Nacht Op.4: Adagio |
| 5. Verklarte Nacht Op.4: Adagio |
| 6. Pelleas und Melisande Op.5: Die ein wenig bewegt |
| 7. Pelleas und Melisande Op.5: Heftig |
| 8. Pelleas und Melisande Op.5: Lebhaft |
| 9. Pelleas und Melisande Op.5: Sehr rasch |
| 10. Pelleas und Melisande Op.5: Ein wenig bewegt |
| 11. Pelleas und Melisande Op.5: Langsam |
| 12. Pelleas und Melisande Op.5: Ein wenig bewegter |
| 13. Pelleas und Melisande Op.5: Sehr langsam |
| 14. Pelleas und Melisande Op.5: Etwas bewegt |
| 15. Pelleas und Melisande Op.5: In gehender Bewegung |
| 16. Pelleas und Melisande Op.5: Breit |
In Transfigured Night alone there is much to be appreciated. Its opening establishes a dark and foreboding atmosphere that's touched with lament. From there, Transfigured Night manages to cover everything ranging from the manic to the sublime! The remarkable thing is that Schoenberg managed to do all of this so very artfully with just a string orchestra. Compare this to great composers such as Wagner and Mahler, who both seemed to require a massive cast along with every instrument known to man to reach the same heights.
Briefly put, this is a "gateway drug" to the rest of Schoenberg's compositional output.
This kind of expressionism has always held an interesting contradiction for me. The emotional content is so dense and compressed, and yet the means of expression are so extravagant and extended. Maybe that is why he wanted the other rules of serialism and the more compressed style - to line up the emotions and means of expression.
But I love this music. Lush, beautiful, satisfying and still provocative.
Pelleas und Melissande is so compositionally dense that it seems almost over composed to me. I am not sure all of it is hearable (well, maybe a FEW people can (or think they can)). But it is pretty common for the great composers to be more verbose in their early works than in their later style.
If you don't know these works and you like the lush late romatic style, you should treat yourself. If you don't know Schoenberg's tonal works, this disk would be a great place to start.
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