Brahms: String Quartet in C Minor - Schönberg: Verklärte Nacht

Presentación del Álbum

While Arnold Schoenberg came to be known for his progressive, innovative compositional techniques, he retained a reverence for the works of Johannes Brahms, deeming the older German master just as much as a progressive as he. Schoenberg's appreciation for the rich harmonies and thick textures of Brahms are easily detectable in his early Verklärte Nacht, originally scored for string sextet but later arranged by the composer into a successful version for string orchestra. It is this version that is performed on this Channel Classics disc by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. The playing here is wonderfully in tune -- not at all an easy task in this score -- and bursting with emotional contrast. Driven and forward moving, this reading nicely avoids stagnation. While the Amsterdam Sinfonietta's technical skills are unmistakable, the overall sound quality may not be appealing to all listeners. Diffuse, sometimes nasal, and often inarticulate, they, too, often produce an uninteresting wash of sound. This is even more noticeable -- and off-putting -- in the performance of Brahms' Op. 51/1 String Quartet, arranged for string orchestra by the group's bass player, Marijn van Prooijen. The intimacy and edginess of a string quartet performance is lost here, and the movement to a string orchestra seems to serve little purpose other than seeing if it can be done.
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