This fascinating,
well recorded disc, Volume VII of the Robert Craft-Schoenberg
Collection, embraces a 42-year period of the composer’s creative
life. The common thread here is Schoenberg’s writing for voice
or voices – at its most ingratiating in the Six Songs and at
its most challenging in the Six Pieces for male chorus.
The Six Songs, Op.
8 (1903-4) are decidedly late-Romantic, thickly scored and sumptuous
in equal measure. Such songs as the third and sixth contain
passages of great beauty and sensitivity while the fourth song
is more conventional and ultimately overblown. Jennifer Welch-Babidge
sings both passionately and accurately, relishing the Straussian
vocal lines for which great stamina is needed. Only occasionally
does her momentary shrillness or tremulousness under pressure
become intrusive.
The Six Pieces for
male chorus (1929-30, texts by the composer) form an extraordinary
group of very wide expressive range, covering different aspects
of human experience, such as Happiness, Inhibition, Obligation
or Means of Expression. Four of the pieces are serial compositions.
The exemplary clarity of scoring is particularly remarkable
in what is a notoriously difficult medium. Landsknechte, the
fifth piece, is an astonishing tour de force - effectively a
slow march full of onomatopoeic sounds representing drumming
and trudging feet. These Six Pieces are essential listening
for those who may mistakenly think they know every aspect of
Schoenberg. Perseverance is needed, but this difficult but masterly
work does bring rewards. Of this set, and of the equally demanding
Friede auf Erden, the Simon Joly Chorale gives accomplished
performances, though not totally free from a sense of strain
in the more demanding passages. Those wishing for a little more
polish and sensuousness in Friede auf Erden might prefer the
Tokyo Symphony Chorus under Kazuyoshi Akiyama (Montaigne).
The tiny miniature
Ei, du Lütte, providing the greatest possible contrast to anyone
playing the disc straight through, is pure delight. This would
make a wonderful “innocent ear” test for a friend.
Schoenberg set Kol
Nidre in 1938, by which time he had settled in America. A Los
Angeles rabbi having asked him to arrange the traditional Kol
Nidre melody, Schoenberg discovered that the text was Sephardic
Spanish and therefore applied to Jews who had “gone over to
Christianity”. He was also shocked that apparently “all obligations
undertaken during the year should be dissolved on the Day of
Atonement, which contradicts the high ethical quality of all
Jewish commandments”. Schoenberg’s subsequent alterations to
the Orthodox ritual resulted in a ban on the use of his version
in synagogues. In his view, the Kol Nidre melody itself hardly
deserved to be called a melody, as it was more of a succession
of melismas all resembling each other. He selected some of these
and subjected them to “serial treatment within a tonal framework”,
as Malcom MacDonald has written. From the opening bars a potent
atmosphere is established, well sustained in this engaging performance
and enhanced by David Wilson-Johnson’s fine diction. The neglect
of this compelling, dramatic, beautifully orchestrated and thoroughly
accessible work can be explained only by anti-Schoenberg prejudice.
Three extracts from
Moses and Aron (The Golden Calf and The Altar, Act II Scene
3) complete this disc. Here the contribution of the Philharmonia
is very fine, though one or two moments of slightly untidy ensemble
suggest one more take would have been a good idea. In particular,
the first trombonist’s outstandingly beautiful playing deserves
mention. One poignant sentence from Robert Craft’s informative
booklet notes demands quotation – “An orgy follows, but at this
point the excerpt ends.” (!) Well, if it’s any consolation,
I suppose it would be much more disappointing if this were a
DVD.
This is a thoroughly
recommendable disc, an essential purchase for any Schoenberg
collector. Equally, in its demonstration of the composer’s wide
expressive range, it is of enormous value to anyone even remotely
interested in this 20th-century master.
Texts are available
only from a website. This practice is now widespread, but it remains
an undesirable substitute for the traditional inclusion of words
with the CD notes.
Philip Borg-Wheeler
Jennifer Welch-Babidge
(soprano) (1, 6) 
