Yes, you did read the
heading correctly, though you might
not believe it. To be honest I thought
someone was having me on until I played
the CDs, when I discovered they were
not. So, forget Schoenberg's opulent
late-romantic scoring for vast orchestra,
three four-part men's choir and an eight-part
mixed choir, five soloists and speaker,
as you know it. This is a somewhat slimmer
version and one that is mercifully less
taxing on a recording company's budget.
What we have here is something that
raises questions - principally along
the 'why' and 'what' line; how successfully
it answers them will be down to individual
tastes and preferences.
Why arrange Schoenberg?
Well, to be fair, this is not the first
time Gurre-Lieder has been reduced,
by which I do not mean arranged. Alban
Berg produced a piano reduction, which
would in itself be interesting to hear
and was consulted in producing this
arrangement. My view is that arrangements
usually prove unsuccessful in some crucial
respect. There are exceptions though.
This does not mean that listening to
such a vast behemoth of a work in bare
bones form cannot be interesting. It
aims to get back to the essence of the
thing, which presumably was the aim
here.
It is interesting that
the performers note their inspiration
for the project as a visual source,
the Schoenberg etchings of Ernst von
Hopffgarten (spot the connection here).
One of those etchings is reproduced
in part on the cover - suitably elemental
and sparse. Schoenberg as a painter
himself - a fact not often recognized;
this aspect of his creative work remains
under-explored - might well have approved
of the intervention of the visual stimulus
in such a project. However his musical
intelligence would have turned at once
to the outcome.
The outcome we have
is a scoring for one piano, cello (occasionally
doubling as second piano) and a speaker.
The booklet states that performing difficult
arrangements such as this has become
the trademark of the performers. It
is easier to see how it might work on
recording, where edits and takes are
possible, than in live performance.
One of the pianos at least is prepared
to give additional sonorities and effects
where required.
All of this I have
so far surmised from the notes - fulsome
on the plot of the original Gurre-Lieder
and thin on the arrangement. Why so?
Surely a vocal work with the words stripped
from it has little need for a plot synopsis?
I see this not so much as an attempt
to reduce the work but as divorced from
it, a gargantuan cello and piano duet
(largely), whose thematic material draws
upon Schoenberg as a reference. Pointing
out in the notes the fact that compromises
had to be made is like stating that
it is warm when the sun shines.
What of the lack of
voices, and choirs? What of the orchestral
parts, for that matter? To be honest,
it was the voices I missed most. Assigning
the parts mostly to the cello proved
only partially successful. I missed
the text, obviously, the interplay of
registers and the passion associated
with the thing as a whole. Even an instrument
like a cello, as vocal as it can be,
registers its limitations all too readily
here. As for the piano taking on everything
else, seemingly with an interest in
effect and prominence of parts within
the structure, the result can become
dense and overtly solid. To be fair
though, the recording is somewhat to
blame, along with pianist and instrument.
What of the one voice
we do get - the speaker? This is, in
any performance of Gurre-Lieder, one
of the great moments to be looked forward
too. Having heard Hans Hotter, Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau and Ernst Haefliger
live in this part, I have a sense of
how it can be deployed musically to
aid the impact of the words. Michael
Ransburg takes a very actorly approach,
ignoring musicality altogether. To my
ears he misses the heart of the matter.
Whilst all three performers
bring enthusiasm to their endeavour
they fall some way short in convincing
me of the validity of the outcome, or
of satisfactorily answering the questions
the recording sets up for itself.
One final question
though, and it's a tough one: why buy
this recording? If it's another distinct
take on a great work you are after -
like Hans Zender's arrangement of Schubert's
Winterreise - then this is self-recommending.
However, for most this will probably
be at best a curiosity, seldom, if ever
revisited. With the competition for
full versions of Gurre-Lieder tougher
than ever these days, there seems little
point in avoiding the real thing. Take
your pick of Chailly, Ozawa, Boulez,
Rattle and co; for me it is Robert Craft's
keen yet caring reading that hits all
the right buttons. With Naxos now offering
it for around ten quid you can hardly
go wrong.
Evan Dickerson
Martin van Hopffgarten (cello and piano) 
