It is a long time since
I last heard Gurre-Lieder;
and, truth to tell, I have long considered
it verbose and overblown; definitely
not the Schönberg that appealed
to me. Reviewing this re-issue of a
fairly recent recording, previously
released on Koch International Classics,
provided a timely and really welcome
opportunity to re-appraise this important,
large-scale milestone in Schönberg’s
output.
Gurre-Lieder
was composed in 1900-1901 and orchestrated
in 1911. By that time Schönberg
had already completed the Chamber
Symphony No.1 Op.9 (1906) and
– more importantly – his Five
Orchestral Pieces Op.16 (1909)
and Erwartung Op.17 (1909).
It is a hybrid piece: part oratorio,
part dramatic cantata on a very large
scale indeed. It stands in striking
contrast when compared to the later
works mentioned above. Moreover, at
the time of completing the orchestration,
Schönberg had made considerable
musical progress, so that the work may
be regarded as the culmination of Schönberg’s
post-romantic period rather than a contemporary
of his first major mature works. Musically
speaking, the idiom is heavily indebted
to the influences of Wagner and Richard
Strauss, but also to French Impressionism.
The latter suffuses the beautifully
atmospheric orchestral prelude and some
of the purely orchestral music.
It is difficult to
know what may have drawn Schönberg
to set Jacobsen’s long poem, which is
definitely closer to a Wagnerian libretto
than to the expressionist, if by now
somewhat dated texts of Pierrot
Lunaire Op.21 (1912) or of Erwartung.
The epic, heroic tale of Waldemar and
Tove may have appealed to Schönberg
as well as to the premiere’s audience.
The large-scale structure and the lushly
Romantic music of the piece may also
have proved quite impressive to the
audience. The first performance was
a huge success and probably one of Schönberg’s
greatest public triumphs, as Richard
Whitehouse rightly mentions in his short,
but interesting insert notes. (Incidentally,
Whitehouse’s notes do contain one minor
mistake, when they remark that "Webern’s
musical language had advanced considerably
in the interim", i.e. between the
completion of the short score and its
orchestration.) Indeed, Gurre-Lieder
is still one of his most popular pieces,
at least as far as recordings are concerned.
Among the recordings
still available, those of Chailly and
Ozawa may boast more glamorous casts;
but, as far as I can judge, the one
assembled by Robert Craft is quite successful
indeed. It also includes the celebrated
tenor Ernst Haefliger in the spoken
part of the Poet’s voice. This spoken
part may in fact be the work’s weak
point as well as the stumbling block
in any performance of the piece. The
Poet’s voice is conceived as some sort
of Sprechgesang, i.e. neither
real spoken words nor sung phrases.
In his letter to a Mr Johnson who planned
a performance in February 1951 (reprinted
in full in the insert notes), Schönberg
admits that "the question of the
speaker is a little more difficult...
finally [I] found out the best thing
is to give it to a singer who no longer
has the necessary beauty of voice to
sing great parts", although he
goes on mentioning some performances
in which the Poet’s voice is spoken
by actors rather than singers. Schönberg’s
comments are a bit rough in this case
(and I hope that Haefliger has never
been aware of them!); but they clearly
emphasise the problem posed by this
part in the work. In any case, Haefliger
does a fine job here, although the question
about the success (or lack of success)
of the part is still open.
I must say that this
performance washed away my long-standing
doubts about the piece; and I see this
as ample proof of its global quality.
There is much fine singing throughout
as well as much superb orchestral playing
(just try the orchestral prelude [track
1]). So, if – like me – you had or still
have doubts about Gurre-Lieder
but are ready to give it another chance,
then this performance is warmly recommended,
especially at Naxos’ bargain price.
Hubert Culot
see also review
by Terry
Barfoot and Bruce Hodges
Stephen O’Mara (Waldemar, tenor); Melanie
Diener (Tove, soprano); Jennifer Lane (Wood
Dove, mezzo-soprano); David Wilson-Johnson
(Peasant, bass); Martyn Hill (Klaus-Narr,
tenor); Ernst Haefliger (spreaker); Simon Joly
Chorale; Philharmonia Orchestra; Robert Craft
