MDG Scene  901 1913-6

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Orchestral

Berg: 3 Pieces for Orchestra; 3 fragments from Wozzeck; Violin Concerto (arr. Tarkmann)

Rahel Cunz, violin
Bénédicte Tauran, soprano
Musikkollegium Winterthur
Pierre-Alain Monot


Sensational Première
John Rea scored a sensational success with his adaptation of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck for chamber ensemble, and now this Canadian composer and highly knowledgeable arranger is back. His ensemble version of Berg’s Three Orchestral Pieces op. 6 commissioned by the Musikkollegium Winterthur extracts nuanced tonal levels from the magnificent original score in what is an amazing feat of his own! Pierre-Alain Monot and his Winterthur colleagues have recorded these pieces and a version of Berg’s famous Violin Concerto reduced to the smallest ensemble dimensions by Andreas Tarkmann for MDG. The concertmaster Rahel Cunz is the solo violinist, and Bénédicte Tauran is a Marie torn between love, grief, and vanity.

Pleasant Surprise
The arrangement of large orchestral works for smaller ensembles was very much a tradition in Berg’s immediate environment. Arnold Schönberg’s Society for Private Musical Performances was a venue for the study of the latest music. The arrangements continue to be popular today, which shows that they fulfilled much more than mere didactic goals. The harmonium served as a superb stand-in for the absent wind parts, but Andreas Tarkmann uses the accordion as his substitute in the Violin Concerto – with surprising results. And for the gripping Bachian chorale at the end, creating associations with the organ in the original, he has come up with a special surprise.

Psychic Suspense
The Three Fragments from Wozzeck paved this opera’s way to success, which, in view of its radically anti-romantic action, could not at all be guaranteed. The three pieces from the first and third acts limited to Marie display Berg’s splendid mastery in the musical characterization of his contradictory protagonist. Already in the Orchestral Pieces op. 6 Berg probed extreme psychic conditions. The seemingly idyllic movement headings “Prelude – Round Dance – March” cradle the public in deceptive security. At the very latest when the Mahlerian hammer comes crashing down, everything idyllic is shattered to pieces.

Supersonic Production
The MDG sound engineers have captured the Winterthur premiere of John Rea’s arrangement of the Orchestral Pieces in lavish 3-D technique. The carefully produced Super Audio CD 2+2+2 recording enables the listener to participate directly in this memorable event – a document of historical value – and more!