1. Alban Berg - Sieben Frühe Lieder - Nacht Magdelna Kozena Sir Simon Rattle

[FutureMoth]

Hell. YES.

[timthesav]

1:24 WOOOOOOO!



[SuperSaltpeanuts]

this is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo AMAZIIIIIING!

[PoseidonRM]

beautiful!

[rlfmoba]

maybe

[lovesGenet]

my god how does a singer know where those pitches are. The score is unbelievable!

[callmeBe]

@lovesGenet It's hard, but the work is still completely tonal (this work is highy akin to Richard Strauss and his last 3 songs--which, of course was written later), and can certainly be followed with a late romantic ear. When you proceed 10+ years, I think you are very right--I have complete awe for any voice who can capture the intervals. In any case, I find in the period precurssor to expressionism (early Schoenberg songs), or this work, some of the most interesting music ever written

[DieFlabbergast]

@callmeBe " . . . his last 3 songs--which, of course was written later" ?? Do you mean the Four Last Songs (Vier Letzte Lieder), composed in 1948? I see what you mean, but the Four Last Songs are considerably more conventionally romantic than this Berg cycle, which hovers on the edge of atonality. Incidentally, the sound engineer responsible for this recording should be sacked! Magdalena does have a fairly small voice, but not THAT small. Still, a lovely performance.

[callmeBe]

@DieFlabbergast Greetings: I want to answer your question correctly, but I'm not sure of your information. That is, Berg died in 1935 and never wrote a work entitled "Four Last Songs." (I'm looking at a ledger of his published works right now, in fact). His last song was written in 1925 (just one song), and most written before 1908. If you have a link to "Vier Letzte Lieder," let me know, I would be especially excited to hear it!!! I do own the published music to "7 Early Songs."

[DieFlabbergast]

@callmeBe I'm afraid we have a misunderstanding here. Please read your own post again carefully. I quote: "It's hard, but the work is still completely tonal (this work is highy akin to Richard Strauss and his last 3 songs--which, of course was written later)." I naturally took this to mean "the last 3 songs of Richard Strauss," not the last 3 songs of Alban Berg!　Especially since you used the singular verb-form "was" in "was written later," implying a single song-cycle.

[callmeBe]

@DieFlabbergast Oh, I did not mean literally, the Strauss songs are less adventurous in virtually all ways:Strauss backed away from his own chromaticism about mid-life, and I have yet to hear a solid reason as to why. Too bad. As far as this Berg song, I don't find a single measure with score in hand I could not explain in a highy tonal way. If you look at the bass line alone (when not in arpeggio) it is proceeding to intervals of 4ths, 5ths, and those flat II's, +6. Stardard chromatic theory

[DieFlabbergast]

@callmeBe "Strauss backed away from his own chromaticism about mid-life, and I have yet to hear a solid reason as to why. Too bad. " That is your opinion, but I do not share it. If Strauss had gone down the same path as Schoenberg, we would have been deprived of the glories of the Four Last Songs and the Metamorphosen, two of the crowning glories of 20th Century classical music. Composers are artists: their mission is to create beauty. Leave adventure to the explorers and the scientists.

[callmeBe]

@DieFlabbergast Is Berg not a little adventure? Sure, I am highly respectful of virtually ANY Strauss work, so, yes, I would love to have penned 'Vier Letzte Lieder," as my own; it is all great stuff, but for me the more contrapuntal and chromatic the work becomes the more I wish to listen (and study). Different things move me than you. And my out look on composition is different: I say (and taught) bear the soul--that will be your adventure. However, technique (science) gets you there

[FutureMoth]

@callmeBe

This.