The composers of the Second Viennese School were keenly aware of the difficulties they faced in presenting their new orchestral and chamber music to the public, so they resorted to keyboard transcriptions to make performances more practical. This double-CD from Capriccio is a collection of piano versions of Arnold Schoenberg's music, arranged by Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Ferruccio Busoni, Erwin Stein, and Schoenberg himself. While some of the impact of the orchestral originals is lost (for example, the preludes and ...
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The composers of the Second Viennese School were keenly aware of the difficulties they faced in presenting their new orchestral and chamber music to the public, so they resorted to keyboard transcriptions to make performances more practical. This double-CD from Capriccio is a collection of piano versions of Arnold Schoenberg's music, arranged by Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Ferruccio Busoni, Erwin Stein, and Schoenberg himself. While some of the impact of the orchestral originals is lost (for example, the preludes and interludes from the massive Gurre-Lieder are weaker here, even with 6 to 8 hands on 2 pianos), enough of the intended effects come through in the transcriptions to make the effort worthwhile. Perhaps the most successful arrangements are the ones for voice and piano, such as the opening track, Gethsemane, and the Six Orchestral Songs, because the main interest lies in the vocal lines, as sung, respectively, by Konrad Jarnot and Claudia Barainsky, and the piano part is essentially...
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