Search - Schoenberg, Nelson, Ugcce :: Voice & Virtuoso

Excellent!!

Mike Sobocinski | Lansing, MI | 07/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The liner notes ask, and answer the question: "Why record yet another performance of Pierrot Lunaire?" Well, they've done a wonderful job, and they realize that the serialist style of music isn't limited to just portraying fear and suffering (a terrible misconception from so many people who can only think of horror-film soundtracks when they hear some of Schoenberg's lesser works.) If you haven't yet been able to enjoy any Schoenberg following his hyper-romantic "Transfigured Night" period then you should definitely listen to this album. Even though the 12-tone technique wouldn't be officially formalized until about 10 years later, "Pierrot Lunaire" wonderfully exhibits two of the fine features that the 12-tone style should contain:

1. Extensive and complicated polyphony and counterpoint

2. Extremely flexible uses of modern melody not limited by the need to always be bound to keys and resolve in traditional cadences



"Pierrot" is fine music for any who are acquainted with, and enjoy, the modern style of chromatic and pantonal melodies that developed out of "impressionism" and throughout the 20th Century. Any listeners who have enjoyed Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, etc. should be able to enjoy this work. For those who are new to the style, I would recommend focusing only on one melodic line at a time (doing so will provide a focus for recognizing and understanding the counterpoint). The work is loaded with fascinating (and yes, even beautiful) melodies that intertwine with each other in surprising and impressive ways. And yes, there are moments (as in the middle of Part III) that shine with positive energy! Certainly not the stuffy and dark sort of mood that one normally associates with the style, although those elements can be found (and in fact, one of the movements ends on the sounds of vocalized sobbing). We've got a full range of emotion here! This is the recording to buy!! It may well change your view of Schoenberg and the twelve-tone style!



In addition, although I'd never heard it before, the second work on the CD can be called an immediate "hit." It likely won't have the staying power of Pierrot, but it is one flashy, snazzy, lively, virtuosic piece! The third piece is a Zwilich work that is also extremely solid; a deeper work than the second one on the disc, and of course not quite on the level of Pierrot, Zwilich is a very respectable and accomplished modern composer that will not disappoint."