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Schoenberg: Gurrelieder

Building a Library surveys recordings of Schoenberg's epic cantata Gurrelieder.

Building a Library on Schoenberg's epic cantata Gurrelieder. Nicholas Baragwanath guides us through this gargantuan late flowering of 19th-century Romanticism in which Schoenberg wove together a sumptuous score that can be surprising to people accustomed to the more astringent sound world of his later works.

Recommended recording:

Thomas Moser (Waldemar), Karita Mattila (Tove), Anne Sofie von Otter (Waldtaube), Philip Langridge (Klaus-Narr), Thomas Quasthoff (Bauer/Sprecher), Rundfunkchor Berlin, MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Ernst-Senff-Chor Berlin, Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle (conductor)

Part of the Second Viennese School box
BERG: Lulu-Suite (Five Symphonic Pieces) for soprano and orchestra; Violin Concerto 'To the Memory of an Angel' (1935)
BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor Op. 25 (arranged for Orchestra by Schoenberg)
SCHOENBERG: Erwartung Op. 17; Chamber Symphony No. 1 in E major Op. 9; Variations for Orchestra Op. 31; 5 orchestral pieces Op. 16; A Survivor from Warsaw Op. 46
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
WARNER CLASSICS 4575622 (5CD)

Other recommended recordings:

Below is a shortlist of other recordings which Nicholas Baragwanath also liked, although we can鈥檛 guarantee the availability of these discs.

Stig Andersen (Waldemar), Soile Isokoski (Tove), Monica Groop (Waldtaube), Andreas Conrad (Klaus-Narr), Ralf Lukas (Bauer), Barbara Sukowa (Sprecher), Philharmonia Voices, City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, The Philharmonia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor)
SIGNUM SIGCD173

James McCracken (Waldemar), Jessye Norman (Tove), Tatiana Troyanos (Waldtaube), Kim Scown (Klaus-Narr), David Arnold (Bauer), Werner Klemperer (Sprecher), Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa (conductor)
PHILIPS 4125112

Siegfried Jerusalem (Waldemar), Susan Dunn (Tove), Brigitte Fassbaender (Waldtaube), Peter Haage (Klaus-Narr), Hermann Becht (Bauer), Hans Hotter (Sprecher), Stadtischer Musikverein Dusseldorf, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Riccardo Chailly (conductor)
DECCA E4737282

Stuart Skelton (Waldemar), Alwyn Mellor (Tove), Anna Larsson (Waldtaube), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Klaus-Narr), James Creswell (Bauer), Sir Thomas Allen (Sprecherr), Bergen Philharmonic Choir, Choir of Collegium Musicum, Edvard Grieg Kor, Orphei Drangar, Students from the Royal Northern College of Music, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner (conductor)
CHANDOS CHSA5172(2)

Release date:

Duration:

47 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Composer Arnold Schoenberg

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