Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951): Piano Music (Klavierwerke) by GLENN GOULD

Great performances by Sir John Barbirolli of two monumental late romantic works, by Sibelius (Symphony No. 7) and Schoenberg (Pelleas and Melisande -- Symphonic Poem). Both are recordings of live performances, remastered digitally.

Great performances by Sir John Barbirolli of two monumental late romantic works, by Sibelius (Symphony No. 7) and Schoenberg (Pelleas and Melisande -- Symphonic Poem). Both are recordings of live performances, remastered digitally.

Great performances by Sir John Barbirolli of two monumental late romantic works, by Sibelius (Symphony No. 7) and Schoenberg (Pelleas and Melisande -- Symphonic Poem). Both are recordings of live performances, remastered digitally.

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A very different set than Teldec's Bach 2000. The Hanssler Bachakademie, supervised by Helmut Rilling, is not HIP (historic instruments performance). The orchestras are warm and lush (but not huge). The soloists are, in general, extraordinary. The tempos are sane. Hanssler has included fragments of some incomplete BWV's that are not included in the Teldec set; a minor plus but appealing. I found I preferred these traditional instruments and the daring using of forte-piano in place of harpsichord on a few of the recordings (flute sonatas). Highlights for me are The Well-Tempered Clavier Books 1 and 2, Musical Offering, Flute Sonatas, The Motets. I also found I prefer these Cantatas recordings to any other, including the new Koopman, Suzuki and the well-known Leonhart-Harnoncourt. While not the newest recordings, the sound is warmer which I prefer to the new state-of-the-art HIP recordings. Although most of the Cantatas are older recordings, much of the Hanssler Bachakademie edition is newly recorded for this project and the sound is consistent and excellent. Jan Hanford, J.S. Bach Home Page

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La Barbara's voice (in triplicate) has the freshness and clarity of a frosty morning, and the three lines congeal into chords of an icy coolness, pure-toned and precisely tuned, a joy to witness.... I could easily understand if this record were to achieve the status of a cult object. Gramophone

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Here is one of the great contemporary masterpieces for voice. Three Voices was composed for Joan La Barbara, a singer and performer of avant-garde music in the tradition of Cathy Berberian or Jan DeGaetani. In live performance, the singer stands next to two loudspeakers that play two prerecorded tapes of her voice, to which she synchronizes herself. At the center of the work is a setting of the poem Wind by Frank O'Hara. The various vocal patterns on either side of the poem were inspired, as in all Feldman's late music, by the patterns on Oriental carpets, and you actually can hear the slow modification of shape and form as the music proceeds.

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La Barbara's voice (in triplicate) has the freshness and clarity of a frosty morning, and the three lines congeal into chords of an icy coolness, pure-toned and precisely tuned, a joy to witness.... I could easily understand if this record were to achieve the status of a cult object. Gramophone

”

Here is one of the great contemporary masterpieces for voice. Three Voices was composed for Joan La Barbara, a singer and performer of avant-garde music in the tradition of Cathy Berberian or Jan DeGaetani. In live performance, the singer stands next to two loudspeakers that play two prerecorded tapes of her voice, to which she synchronizes herself. At the center of the work is a setting of the poem Wind by Frank O'Hara. The various vocal patterns on either side of the poem were inspired, as in all Feldman's late music, by the patterns on Oriental carpets, and you actually can hear the slow modification of shape and form as the music proceeds.

No other musician can stake a claim for primary Beckett-related importance more than Morton Feldman. Not only are Feldman's timeless, repetitive compositions often evocative of Beckett's minimalist prose, but a meeting in Berlin, 1976, lead to a warm relationship between the composer and the writer, one that bore fruit in several projects and collaborations. In 1976 he met Samuel Beckett in Berlin, at the Schiller-Theater, where Beckett was overseeing rehearsals of Footfalls and That Time. Coming in from the sunlight into the dark theatre, the already terribly myopic Feldman could barely see Beckett, and literally tripped on the stage after "shaking his thumb." Inviting the author to lunch, and armed with a score for part of Film, Feldman attempted to get the embarrassed writer to provide text for a composition intended for the Rome Opera. The two discussed their mutual disdain for traditional opera, groping around each other for a possible middle ground -- Feldman didn't want to use any existing text, and Beckett wasn't exactly fond of having his words set to music. Eventually, Beckett agreed to elaborate on some words he called "the theme of his life," the result being Neither, mailed to the composer a few weeks later -- before Beckett had ever heard a note of Feldman's music! Coincidentally, the very week he mailed the poem, he heard Feldman's Orchestra on the BBC. Perhaps sensing similarities in their artistic vision, Beckett approved of his music and continued their friendship, though the younger man remained somewhat in awe of Beckett for the rest of his life. In 1985 Beckett suggested Feldman as the composer for a new version of Words and Music being produced for American radio. Putting aside his other work, Feldman completed the score, following it with a long piece dedicated to his friend, For Samuel Beckett, in 1986. It was the last thing he finished composing; he died a year later, before starting a score for Beckett's Cascando.

No other musician can stake a claim for primary Beckett-related importance more than Morton Feldman. Not only are Feldman's timeless, repetitive compositions often evocative of Beckett's minimalist prose, but a meeting in Berlin, 1976, lead to a warm relationship between the composer and the writer, one that bore fruit in several projects and collaborations. In 1976 he met Samuel Beckett in Berlin, at the Schiller-Theater, where Beckett was overseeing rehearsals of Footfalls and That Time. Coming in from the sunlight into the dark theatre, the already terribly myopic Feldman could barely see Beckett, and literally tripped on the stage after "shaking his thumb." Inviting the author to lunch, and armed with a score for part of Film, Feldman attempted to get the embarrassed writer to provide text for a composition intended for the Rome Opera. The two discussed their mutual disdain for traditional opera, groping around each other for a possible middle ground -- Feldman didn't want to use any existing text, and Beckett wasn't exactly fond of having his words set to music. Eventually, Beckett agreed to elaborate on some words he called "the theme of his life," the result being Neither, mailed to the composer a few weeks later -- before Beckett had ever heard a note of Feldman's music! Coincidentally, the very week he mailed the poem, he heard Feldman's Orchestra on the BBC. Perhaps sensing similarities in their artistic vision, Beckett approved of his music and continued their friendship, though the younger man remained somewhat in awe of Beckett for the rest of his life. In 1985 Beckett suggested Feldman as the composer for a new version of Words and Music being produced for American radio. Putting aside his other work, Feldman completed the score, following it with a long piece dedicated to his friend, For Samuel Beckett, in 1986. It was the last thing he finished composing; he died a year later, before starting a score for Beckett's Cascando.

No other musician can stake a claim for primary Beckett-related importance more than Morton Feldman. Not only are Feldman's timeless, repetitive compositions often evocative of Beckett's minimalist prose, but a meeting in Berlin, 1976, lead to a warm relationship between the composer and the writer, one that bore fruit in several projects and collaborations. In 1976 he met Samuel Beckett in Berlin, at the Schiller-Theater, where Beckett was overseeing rehearsals of Footfalls and That Time. Coming in from the sunlight into the dark theatre, the already terribly myopic Feldman could barely see Beckett, and literally tripped on the stage after "shaking his thumb." Inviting the author to lunch, and armed with a score for part of Film, Feldman attempted to get the embarrassed writer to provide text for a composition intended for the Rome Opera. The two discussed their mutual disdain for traditional opera, groping around each other for a possible middle ground -- Feldman didn't want to use any existing text, and Beckett wasn't exactly fond of having his words set to music. Eventually, Beckett agreed to elaborate on some words he called "the theme of his life," the result being Neither, mailed to the composer a few weeks later -- before Beckett had ever heard a note of Feldman's music! Coincidentally, the very week he mailed the poem, he heard Feldman's Orchestra on the BBC. Perhaps sensing similarities in their artistic vision, Beckett approved of his music and continued their friendship, though the younger man remained somewhat in awe of Beckett for the rest of his life. In 1985 Beckett suggested Feldman as the composer for a new version of Words and Music being produced for American radio. Putting aside his other work, Feldman completed the score, following it with a long piece dedicated to his friend, For Samuel Beckett, in 1986. It was the last thing he finished composing; he died a year later, before starting a score for Beckett's Cascando.