Arnold Schoenberg: Moses und Aron (Excerpts, 1 of 2)

[Danilocompositore]

the most beautiful and when they issue the instruments

[123must]

Boulez is a great composer and conductor

[guitarphunk]

Totally wacked! I love it! This was/is cutting edge material.

[mongemark]

unsichtbarer und unvollsterbarer Gott...

the most beatiful libretto of xx century

[Marg002]

So,,,,, where is the Burning Bush? How are we supposed to comprehend what's going on? Plus it's VERY, VERY slow. How many European stagings have I seen now where everyone is in trenchcoats and carrying suitcases? Basta. I wish there were videos of the Met/NY production.

[Himmelswuest]

@Marg002 Well, musically I prefer Gielen's version for the Straub/Huillet film, but to my mind suitcases make perfect sense when you're fleeing from Egypt.

[Franzii99199]

Da macht auch meine Musik Lehrerin mit ^^

[CzarDodon]

I'm sorry for those who can't see the greatness in Schoenberg's music and his theatre. I saw this opera as a totally unprepared (and unbiased) 17 year old: I fell in love with it.

[luisiege2]

This is GREAT!

[hblab]

Tényleg nem egy élvezhető, jó mű. A múltkori MÜPA-s előadás (jó)néhány zenésze szerint sem...

[DeKaratna]

A fosadék, akkor is fosadék, ha reflektorokkal van megvilágítva.

A zenében nincsen helye sem az etnikai szolidaritásnak, sem az etnikai protekcionizmusnak.

A zene vagy élvezhető, lélekemelő vagy nem!

Ez pedig egy rakás szar!

[DeKaratna]

Ez egy fosadék! Úgy szar, ahogy van! Egy ócska sznobok által felkapott zagyvaságból, mert zsidó téma nem kell világsikert erőszakolni! A szar a színpadon is szar marad . Élvezhetetlen őrültség! Mózesnek a fejeteken kellene a kőtáblát széjjeltörnie!

[Dambrush]

te meg buzi vagy.

[DJPsionix]

hey cool the wien staatsoper

I saw gotterdammerung there.. standing tickets too... standing for so long was a hardcore effort befitting of wagner

[Nibelungenfrau]

danke für dieses schöne moses und aron video. ich habe diese inszenierung bereits 2x im tv gesehen - orf und 3sat. sehr feine inszenierung, herrliche stimmen - sehr fein. ich werde am 16.11.09 auf arte die übertragung von der ruhrtriennale 2009 von willy decker sehen. spannend nickler - decker zu vergleichen.

[lexo30]

I don't have perfect pitch (although I have very good relative pitch) and I have very, very little training as a musician, but I have always liked the way Schoenberg's music sounds. Long before I knew anything about the controversy surrounding him, I just knew I liked listening to his stuff. It had intensity and gravitas and I found it moved me. There is a lie going around that ordinary listeners don't like Schoenberg. I am one and I do.

[ad80ad]

The question about Schoenberg music is an exquisite academic matter. It has NOTHING to do with ordinary listeners, but only with privileged academics, their privileges and their fear to loose their privileges. At a certain time academics begin to refuse romanticism and music as an expression of human feelings, because they perceive that after Wagner and extreme romanticism the evolution of language could make the entire framework of a "privileged" occidental culture to collapse.

[lexo30]

Prove it.

[yukikoforevernoise]

@ad80ad what? . . . you crazy

[WizardofFuzz]

...what controversy surrounds him?

[lexo30]

I am not a professional musician or academic, but I believe that insofar as Schoenberg is still controversial, the controversy is along the lines of "Schoenberg: dead end or what?" A modern composer can enjoy financial success in inverse proportion to the degree that his/her music sounds like Schoenberg's.

[concertobub]

I love serialism - I couldn't live without it.  I hear music better in serialism, makes more sense to me (I have perfect pitch) and it can bring the tears right out of me. I don't question it's validity.

[marcin8942]

Wunderbar interpretation ,gute Stimmen ,interesant inscenization.Ich werde singen diese Oper in 22 August in Ruhrtriennale Festival

Schoene Grusse aus Deutschland Martin

[moosatious]

Very interesting comments here-- all of them. It seems to me that if there is a problem with serialism, it's that it's just so difficult to work with, and produce sosmething even the composer his happy with. Leonard Bernstein case in point: he tried it and gave up, discarding it all. Alban Berg in my view was the most successful of all in applying the technique, but he wasn't a "pure" serialist. Perhaps any "ism" will have this problem? witness minimalism. Is "In C" really fit to perform?

[Varese52]

People were NEVER quick to support serial music. It has been subjected to the worst kind of invective since it was initially unveiled in the twenties. Some composers realized that it offered an alternative to what they considered the artificial extension of tonality, i.e. neoclassicism. But most often, those who refuse to accept total chromaticism have rejected it as "intellectual", ignoring the fact that ALL art is intellectual. Serialism is no more mathematical than a Bach fugue.

[bsdml]

@Varese52 I've never heard it put better than that.  My thoughts exactly.

[uigrad]

I've never understood why people were so quick to support serial music. As far as I'm concerned, it may be good for studying from a desk, but it isn't fit for performing.

I don't want to say that serial music has no value. Hannon etudes are not fit fo perform, yet they have value. I really don't see Schoenberg's pieces as any better for performance than Hannon etudes.

[Varese52]

One additional point about modern music and audiences. I once heard a board member of the Metropolitan Opera say that he hoped he wouldn't have to sit through difficult music such as Strauss' Salome. Really, if Strauss is still hard going for certain listeners, nearly every piece of music written after 1900 would make their ears bleed. Those who hold on to tonality is if it were the Holy Grail really don't do music any favors. And they're often the same lot who go wild over modern visual art.

[Varese52]

I don't know what you're talking about. Schoenberg's tonal music gets regularly performed and recorded by even mediocre artists who think adding his name to their repertoire will give them a bit of "modern music street cred" with critics and/or competition judges. Serialism was never "the only answer" in composition and Schoenberg himself would never have said so. Artists must choose their own modes of expression. But Schoenberg and his followers came up with a compelling body of work.

[Varese52]

I think it's importance is overhyped, and other 20th century music is unfairly neglected (since it is far more accessible). This has to be THE most ridiculous comment I have ever read, especially considering how often one hears works of neoclassicists and neoromantics, not to mention minimalists. When I was a student, this piece was known by almost no one. Thank heavens it is finally being recognized for the masterpiece it is.

[revoltz7]

Eh? I mean (in fact I said) that Schoenbergs tonal music isn't given enough attention in comparison. Everybody associates Schoenberg with serialism; you only get to hear Verklarte Nacht if you dig deep. Serial music is overhyped, because it's importance is superficial. Only a small number of composers write in this today, and pure dodecophany has never been integrated into popular culture.

[CzarDodon]

@revoltz7 Even if Moses und Aaron were the only serial composition ever written it would still be a masterpiece, nobody writes in Flemish polyphonic technique today either, so what? didn't you ever hear that quantity doesn't make quality, being integrated into popular culture what does that mean?... have Beethoven's late quartets been integrated into popular culture? or Gesualdo's madrigals?

[leschs64]

Moses bekommt jeden seinen Einsatz nur vom Suffleur!!!Wie kann er denn so ganz am Anfang ständig seinen Text vergessen?!

[madderbass]

Wow, such a haunting opera. Thanks for posting this! Schoenberg was a genious!

[kristopaivinen]

I loved Franz Mazura in Solti's recording (which was finally rereleazed in 2007!), but in some aspects I go with the 1996 Boulez. Solti completely ruins for me the scene with the Ephraimit. I have heard more than five versions of this work, and I think a definite choice has never been recorded.

[cuttube]

Grundheber was great as Wozzeck - he makes the speaking part of Moses beautiful too... the music is slower than I've heard on other recordings.

Thanks for the upload!

[clarksc1988]

One Grundherber Wozzeck performance on here still gives me chills. At first I didn't know it was him, but he brings this part out much like Wozzeck. I love the emotion he puts into his lines.

[achinghunger15]

I'm sorry schoenberg really ruined his music. He wrote such beautifal music as a young man and then decided to write whatever you call this. I know its expressive but seriously, the man tried to make it sound bad.

[revoltz7]

achinghunger, I completely agree.

[Nachtmarchen]

Personally, I find his later output - the serial stuff - far more appealing, well-structured and concise than his late-Romantic tonal and freely atonal output.

[madderbass]

How does it sound bad? It sounds quite amazing!

[revoltz7]

Well obviously it's subjective, but I think quite frankly his tonal music is overlooked due to the inaccessibility (yes let's face it not many people listen to this) of his serial music.

Personally I enjoy it more than I did a year ago, but since there is really nothing memorable about serial melodies, I think it's importance is overhyped, and other 20th century music is unfairly neglected (since it is far more accessible).

[jhgreenhorn]

you're just ignorant with immature ears!

[Bolender]

When you say that Schoenberg is overhyped, are you talking about academe? You can't be talking about musical society. Varese52 is right that the neoclassicists and minimalists get enormous attention. How often does one hear Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms in contrast to his A Sermon, a Narrative, and a Prayer?

[johnmannno]

Okay, when I was in high school, I was in Chicago Civic Orchestra. We tried sight reading this thing once. You have NO IDEA how hard it is!!! This vid's absolutely fab. Danke danke danke!

[HerrWozzeck]

Whoah! Are you serious? You absolutely sure you're not confusing this with the Schoenberg 5 Orchestra Pieces?

Because if you're serious, that's pretty damn hardcore. Opera, AND it's serialist by the composer that started the darn movement. That must have been a real field day.

This production sucks, BTW. Productions like this that make no sense really make me want to vomit. The musicality of the people isn't too bad, though.

[johnmannno]

Yes, I'm serious, and I'm NOT confusing it with the 5 Orchesta Pieces. I remember it very clearly. Not only was it a bitch to play, but each and every note had a sign on top of it--evidently, Schoenberg wanted every note to be attacked in a different way; like "hard", "soft", "legato", "staccato" etc etc. It was NUTS. I'll never forget it...

[suns83]

vielen danke

[louvemuseum]

cool cool and dark..yes.

[mikabrains]

thanks!