Schoenberg: Complete Works for Violin and Piano

Chronique

Arnold Schoenberg composed only three works for violin and piano, the youthful Piece in D minor (1893-1994), the uncertain, atonal Fragment (1927), and the fully developed twelve-tone Phantasy for violin with piano accompaniment, Op. 47 (1949); yet because these pieces are too short to fill a CD, the sonata after the Wind Quintet, Op. 26 (1923-1924), as arranged in 1926 by Schoenberg's son-in-law Felix Greissle, is presented as a workable programming solution, but one that dominates the other pieces through its length of nearly 49 minutes. Violinist Ulf Wallin and pianist Roland Pöntinen are well-versed in all phases of Schoenberg's music, and present all the pieces with an appropriate balance between the eruptively expressionistic and classically poised sides of this frequently misunderstood composer. However, if the sonata fails to convince -- and it might, depending on how well one knows the wind quintet -- it is merely because Greissle's adaptation is fairly conventional and too heavily weighted in the piano part, whereas Schoenberg's original work is more evenly distributed and coloristically balanced. So while purists may object to this version, others may be glad to hear it because it and the Fragment receive premiere recordings here, a rare event for Schoenberg loyalists. BIS provides excellent sound quality.

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