Schoenberg: Orchestral Works Sir Simon Rattle & Berliner Philharmoniker

• 1 I. Allegro 14:02
• 2 II. Intermezzo - Allegro ma non troppo 08:38
• 3 III. Andante con moto 10:35
• 4 IV. Rondo alla Zingarese 09:03
• 5 Drohende Gefahr – Angst – Katastrophe 09:15
• 6 I. Lento - Allegro molto 04:57
• 7 II. Con fuoco - Tempo primo - Poco meno mosso - Presto 06:44
• 8 III. Lento - Molto lento - Più moto - Tempo primo 07:11
• 9 IV. Tempo primo - Animato poco a poco - Tempo primo - Molto vivace 03:06
• Total Runtime 01:13:31

Info for Schoenberg: Orchestral Works

Following the release of the complete Brahms symphonies ('Altogether a marvellous achievement.' The Daily Telegraph), Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker have performed and recorded a programme of orchestral works by Arnold Schoenberg, who was a great admirer of Brahms.

In these three contrasting works, the spirits of Modernism, Romanticism and Classicism are invoked by Arnold Schoenberg – a revolutionary whose aesthetic roots lay firmly in tradition. Sir Simon Rattle, who first established his international reputation with masterpieces of the 20th century, explores these musical cross-currents with the Berliner Philharmoniker, long supreme in Austro-German repertoire.

The repertoire, recorded in concert at Berlin’s Philharmonie in late October/early November 2009, consists of Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G minor, Begleitungsmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene (Accompanying Music to a Film) and the full orchestra version of the Chamber Symphony No. 1.

In these three contrasting works, the spirits of Modernism, Romanticism and Classicism are invoked by Arnold Schoenberg – a revolutionary whose aesthetic roots lay firmly in tradition. Sir Simon Rattle, who first established his international reputation with masterpieces of the 20th century, explores these musical cross-currents with the Berliner Philharmoniker, long supreme in Austro-German repertoire.

Immediately after the recent performances/recordings, Sir Simon and the Orchestra set off on a coast-to-coast U.S. tour performing the Brahms symphonies and this Schoenberg programme at New York’s Carnegie Hall and in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and Ann Arbor.

Schoenberg said that he had arranged Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25 for orchestra in 1937 for several reasons: “1) I like this piece; 2) It is seldom played; 3) It is always played badly, because the better the pianist, the louder he plays and you hear nothing from the strings. I wanted once to hear everything, and this I achieved.” He also stated that he intended to write his orchestration strictly in the style of Brahms, going no further than Brahms would have gone “if he had lived today.”

Mark Swed, in The Los Angeles Times, said of the LA performance, “When [Schoenberg] made the version in 1937, he had recently moved from Berlin to Los Angeles and was clearly entranced by the resplendent light of his new home. He garbs the quartet in garish instrumental colors … Rattle emphasized everything in the most polystylistic way possible. A horn solo in the solo movement had a raw jazzy quality; a clarinet solo in the Gypsy-inspired last movement was klezmer-like. A xylophone clattered, a bass drum thumped. But within this ruckus was also ravishing ensemble playing and, from Rattle, the inspiration not only for great characterization but also for momentum.”

Allan Kozinn in The NY Times wrote of the Carnegie Hall performance, “It can be hard to banish the original sound and texture from your inner ear, however convincing the new interpretation may sound. But it can be worth the effort, as Mr. Rattle and his musicians demonstrated in a vital, shapely account that found levels of drama in Schoenberg’s magnification that a performance of the chamber version could not possibly equal.” Simon Rattle previously recorded this work with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 1985.

„The BPO woodwind and strings, with horn priming the canvas, are absolute ringers [for Brahms], but a deeper truth emerges from Rattle's delight in (or celebration of) moments where Schoenberg's orchestration goes a bit Mike Yarwood...The omnivorous virtuoso shout of the final moments [of the Chamber Symphony] spills beyond the usual orchestral threshold, the BPO demonstrating why they're the BPO.” (Gramophone)

“you can tell at once that this is the Berlin Phil, so smooth and seductive are their dulcet tones. This is high sonic luxury, with Rattle coaxing on the hushed plush strings, the silken clarinets, the gold-leaf sound of the trumpets.” (Classic FM)

“Accompaniment to a Film Scene...sounds less nightmarish, and a lot more beautiful than in any previous version. In general, Rattle's Schoenberg is more the voluptuous late Romantic than the bogeyman of popular legend.” (BBC Music Magazine)

Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

Recorded in concert 30th October - 7th November 2009, Philharmonie, Berlin
Producer & editor: Christophe Franke
Recording engineer: René Moeller
Executive producer: Stephen Johns

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Booklet for Schoenberg: Orchestral Works