Search - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Alban Berg, Johann II [Junior] Strauss :: Alban Berg Collection / Various (Coll)

Fabulous bargain, but Berg needs texts!

Mark Arnest | Colorado Springs, CO, USA | 02/05/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great set for anyone who wishes to be immersed in Alban Berg's lurid, hothouse, hallucinogenic world. Both performances and sound quality are mostly excellent: No record company has ever made as great a commitment to Berg as Deutsche Grammophon. Based on the performances alone, this deserves six stars.



But the budget price comes with a catch: No texts or librettos. (There are at least scene synopses for "Wozzeck" and "Lulu.") With some composers, this wouldn't be a serious problem, but Berg was one of the greatest control freaks in music history. Without knowing exactly where each word is placed, listeners who don't understand German will miss an important facet of this intricately multi-layered music."

Excellent collection

Sungu Okan | Istanbul, Istanbul Turkey | 04/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a must have for any collectors, 20th Century Music admirers.This is 8-CD set and includes the complete works of Berg on acclaimed performances.Especially, the stars of this set (for me):
Wozzeck (Hildegard Behrens, Wiener Philharmoniker, Abbado)Lulu, complete opera in 3 act (Teresa Stratas, Franz Mazura, Yvonne Minton, Jules Bastin, Robert Tear, Opera National de Paris, Pierre Boulez!!) Lulu-Suite (London SO, Abbado)Three Pieces for Orchestra (London SO, Abbado)Piano Sonata (Daniel Barenboim)Alban Berg's musical language is difficult to understand (at least in first listening), but when listening more times, we notice that, actually in his music, there is a very mystic or impressive and lyric atmosphere. So, I think that he is a "Romantic" modern. Just, he expressed these lyric atmospheres with realist and striking language. Still, he was used 12-tone system, but he was not forget tonality and used the both styles (even so he used jazz passages, especially in Lulu). In other words: Berg is one of the most famous and important composers and he impressed the composers came after him (ex. Shostakovich, Britten, Henze)This is an essential collection and highly recommended."

Real Estate Saver

MacGuffin | New York City | 10/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This little box is an elegant, SPACE-SAVING means of acquiring classic performances (all of them stellar) from the DG catalog of Berg's major works, including two by my adored Lasalle Quartet that I believe have recently gone OOP. The set contains eight CD's housed in somewhat hard-to-remove cardboard sleeves that clearly identify the contents therein, and includes a booklet which, despite not containing lyrics for any of the vocal works, is very informative. The lack of libretti is possibly less an issue in the case of Wozzeck; chances are that listeners already own at least one other recording and so can refer to its libretto. Lulu, however, is more problematic because more listeners probably opt to purchase this "complete(d)" performance over all others and may even be purchasing this set on that basis.

Not being particularly fond of lieder in general, I feel less qualified to make an educated call as to who might own which recordings of the songs other than to remark that I already own this recording of Op. 2 (which, of course includes the lyrics). In fact, as is the case with a previous reviewer, I already own a number of recordings from this set (which I received as a gift). No matter, it's still worth owning, and I agree with yet another reviewer's suggestion to grab it while it's available. True, one might prefer different performances here or there but honestly, this affords the best way of acquiring everything in one fell swoop, and there's not a clinker in the whole set.

In that vein, I might suggest that fans of the VC seek out Szeryng's performance with Kubelik, now available remastered on DG Eloquence at budget price. It's much less emotional than Mutter's beautiful reading but I find this proves an enhancement rather than a detraction; I also feel that Kubelik, possibly due to his Austro-Hungarian heritage, ultimately has a better grasp of this repertoire than Levine (although I love his OOP Lulu Suite/Wozzeck excerpts on Sony and Mahler 4 on RCA)."