Search - Arnold Schoenberg, Christiane Oelze :: Schoenberg: String Quartets 2 & 4

Exquisite...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 01/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

".

I'm surprised that no one has reviewed this fine disc: acutally, I'm surprised at my surprise, because I'm yet fully aware that Schoenberg remains highly unpopular--even less popular than Berg, or even Webern--and certainly less popular than Stravinsky and Bartok.



The reason for Schoenberg's enduring unpopularity may be explained with the "YOU-CAN'T-HANDLE-THE-TRUTH!" cliche: Schoenberg's iron ethos of Expressionistically excoriating existential quandaries is a vastly unpopular proposition.



In any case, Schoenberg's string quartets Nos. 2 & 4 are excellent absolute music in their own right. The string quartet being of course the quintessential genre of art-music, and Schoenberg tackles the form in a more excellent way than Bartok or even Hindemith.



These are great works, very listenable, presented in superior realizations and recorded excellently. The Klimt cover art is an added bonus.

Schoenberg Violin Concerto Op.36/Sibelius Violin Concerto Op.47

Schoenberg (Master Musicians Series)

."

Gorgeous stuff

Jeff D. Wolf | Abilene, TX | 05/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fabulous performance and glowing recording, as all of MDG's issues of the Leipzig Quartet are. I can only echo the comments of the other reviewer listed here. The sole drawback is that the booklet prints only the German lyrics of the Second Quartet, although an English translation can be located without much trouble on Google."