Alban Berg’s ‘Three Pieces for Orchestra’ were completed in 1915 after the composer had worked on them for more than two years. They represent one of the greatest challenges in the orchestral repertoire for both conductors and players due to the technical demands (especially for the brass) that Berg places on them. Strong links exist between this work and the opera ‘Wozzeck’ whose composition Berg was contemplating during this period. In fact Berg later said that he considered the second piece ‘Reigen’ to be study for the opera.

Marc Albrecht and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg deliver a remarkably illuminating performance of this visionary work aided by a recording that allows every detail of its complex textures to emerge with a crystalline clarity unmatched, in my opinion, by any other version of these pieces I have heard, including those by Karajan and Abbado. The recording team of Philipp Knop and Wolfram Nehls have also effectively managed to accommodate the huge dynamic range of the music aided by the clear acoustic of the Palais de la Musique et de Congress, Strasbourg. The confidence and accuracy with which these three pieces are performed suggest that they have been very thoroughly rehearsed prior to the recording sessions.

The accompaniments to Berg’s five ‘Altenberg Lieder’ (Five Songs on Picture Postcard Texts by Peter Altenberg), composed in 1912, also require a fairly large orchestra, used with the composer’s characteristic individuality and fastidiousness. Peter Altenberg (the pen-name of Richard Engländer) was a friend of Berg and notorious in Vienna for his aphoristic and sometimes obscene poems written to his (usually) female friends on the back of picture postcards. Berg’s musical language here is atonal and fragmentary, yet the many lovely things in both the vocal and orchestral parts captivate the ear. For example, in the opening song Berg depicts, in less than one minute, an incredibly detailed and graphic description of a snow-storm with his orchestra before the soprano enters with a soaring and wide ranging vocal line to the words “ O soul, how much lovelier, deeper, you are after snow-storms” The soloist in these highly expressive songs is Christiane Iven, a name new to me, but a soprano who possesses a voice of much beauty and power. She communicates the meaning of the words with keen intelligence and enunciates them with outstanding clarity. This is just as well, as unfortunately PentaTone have provided the texts of this work, and also the seven songs that follow, in German and French, but unaccountably not English. Appreciation of this masterpiece is severely compromised without an understanding of the texts, so this is a serious omission. English translations of all the poems, however, can be accessed at http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/b/berg.html.

Christiane Iven is equally impressive in the ‘Seven early songs’, settings of poems by a variety of poets including Hauptmann, Lenau, and Rilke. Originally written for voice and piano between 1905-1908, Berg orchestrated these songs in 1928. The music is mellifluous and glows with an ecstatic sensual quality from the impressionistic first song ‘Nacht’ to the romantic richness of ‘Die Nachtigall’. Those who respond to the orchestral songs of Mahler, Strauss, Marx or Zemlinsky will be captivated by these settings, particularly when performed as here with Christiane Iven’s marvellous melismatic singing and Albrecht’s ultra-sensitive accompaniments.

The final track on this disc is Berg’s delightfully engaging arrangement for salon ensemble of the well-known waltz by Johann Strauss II ‘Wine, Women and Song’. This was one of four such arrangements of Strauss waltzes made for Vienna’s Society for Private Musical Performances and performed on the evening of the 27th of May 1921; Schoenberg and Webern contributed the other three. The instrumentation consists of a string quartet, piano and harmonium and it is performed here with flare and plenty of ‘Viennese lilt’ by six (uncredited) players from the Strasbourg orchestra.

Those who may be ambivalent about the music of composers of the Second Viennese School should definitely investigate this brilliantly constructed and performed programme.

Copyright © 2009 Graham Williams and HRAudio.net

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