In 1919 Arnold Schoenberg and a group of like-minded individuals,
including Alban Berg and Anton Webern, established in Vienna
The Society for Private Musical Performance. The purpose of
the Society was to mount well-prepared performances of modern
works and, in the case of substantial orchestral scores, to
present the music in arrangements for piano or chamber ensemble,
thereby widening access to these scores. The Society existed
until 1921 and in those three years or so it put on over one
hundred concerts, encompassing 154 works. One of the works arranged
for the Society was Mahler’s Fourth symphony. The reduced version,
made by Erwin Stein, has been recorded a few times (review
review).
In 1921 Schoenberg began work on an arrangement of Das Lied
von der Erde for the Society. However, he never took his
work beyond the first song, presumably because by then the Society
had folded. It was not until 1983 that the German composer and
conductor, Rainer Riehn (b. 1941) completed the work begun by
Schoenberg. The arrangement had been scored by Schoenberg for
an ensemble consisting of solo woodwind and strings - presumably
quintets - piano, harmonium and percussion. It seems from Peter
Davison’s liner-note that Schoenberg intended to have a third
violin part, which Riehn discarded; Riehn also added a celesta
for the closing bars of ‘Der Abschied’.
As Mr Davison puts it, Schoenberg produced “a chamber version
of one of the most subtly-scored of all orchestral works. While
much is lost in dynamic range and colour, it is compensated
by a new clarity and intimacy.” Whatever one may think of the
results – or, indeed, of Stein’s reduction of the Fourth Symphony
– I think it’s important to appreciate the very genuine motives
behind what Schoenberg and his colleagues did. This arrangement
of Das Lied von der Erde is partly an act of homage
to Mahler and, even more importantly, stemmed from a desire
to disseminate his music to a wider audience at a time when
broadcasting and recording were in their infancy.
As it happened, I came to this recording fresh from appraising
another version of the Stein arrangement of the Fourth Symphony.
That recording had reinforced my view that the Stein version,
for all its good original intentions, was really a thinly-scored
curiosity. My first reaction to hearing ‘Das Trinklied vom Jammer
der Erde’ was that this arrangement of Das Lied von der
Erde would offer a similar experience. The opening instrumental
eruption sounds thin and etiolated. When Peter Wedd sings “Dunkel
ist das Leben” for the first time impressions of the scoring
are more favourable – Mahler’s original reduces the orchestral
texture at this point, of course – but the instrumental passage
that follows immediately is frustratingly threadbare; the addition
of piano produces a tinkling timbre which is unwelcome. Later
on, the passage before “Das Firmament blaut ewig” sounds too
brittle while the tempestuous section depicting the vision of
the ape is simply puny in scale. One issue is that the balance
between singer and accompaniment is altered fundamentally. The
original often pits the singer against raging forces; here the
tenor ought to be much more comfortable – though I’m not convinced
that Wedd always makes it seem like that.
However, matters improve somewhat thereafter. The delicate instrumental
tracery at the start of ‘Der Einsame im Herbst’ doesn’t suffer
too much from the reduction in forces – but, then, Mahler’s
original scoring is the epitome of delicacy. One can also engage
with Jane Irwin’s expressive, warm-toned voice. In ‘Von der
Jugend’ the chamber scoring accentuates the chattering nature
of Mahler’s accompaniment. In this song I felt that Peter Wedd
sounded under pressure at times; such is understandable in the
first song with its demanding tessitura but surprised me more
here. In ‘Von der Schönheit’ I wasn’t too impressed with the
sound of the fast, robust instrumental tutti (2:20 – 3:49) that
leads up to “Oh sieh, was tummeln sich für schöne Knaben”; in
this version it sounds too brash.
For much of the time the reduced scoring isn’t too great an
obstacle in ‘Der Abschied’ because we are used to hearing very
spare textures for long stretches of Mahler’s original. However,
in the long central instrumental passage (13:44-19:32) the chamber
sonorities rob the music of much of its sense of foreboding;
one is acutely conscious of a lack of body and I find the piano
part intrusive. There is an insufficient sense of growth to
the shattering climax and the climax itself (18:32 – 19:15)
lacks power and weight; as a result the drama is greatly reduced.
Jane Irwin gives a fine account of the mezzo part and nowhere
is she more expressive than at “Die liebe Erde allüberall” (25:23)
but in this version the accompaniment lacks warmth at this crucial
point.
My overall impression is that this chamber version gives us
far too little variety of texture and colour. Furthermore, for
all the skill of the players, there’s insufficient contrast
between the many delicate passages in the score and the bigger
moments. I take Peter Davison’s point about extra intimacy but,
respectfully, have to disagree with him as to the extra clarity;
that’s one thing that Mahler’s original scoring most assuredly
didn’t lack. That said, I got more out of hearing this version
than I expected or than I did from listening to the Stein version
of the Fourth Symphony.
None of my strictures about the sound of the piece in this format
should be taken as a criticism of the players. The members of
the Manchester Camerata are very exposed indeed in this scoring
but they pass the test with flying colours and are sympathetically
directed by Douglas Boyd. As to the soloists, Peter Wedd is
reliable but I don’t feel he matches up to many of the tenors
one has heard in this role in terms of sensitivity or beauty
of voice. I enjoyed Jane Irwin’s singing, however. Her tone
falls very pleasingly on the ears and she sings with good expression.
I heard her sing the role – in the original version – under
Rattle last year (review)
and I’m glad to have her interpretation preserved on disc; I
only wish it could have been with Mahler’s original scoring.
The recorded sound is good and although this recording was taped
at a concert the audience is commendably silent; there is no
applause at the end.
I’m not sure if this is the first recording of the Schoenberg/Riehn
version. A rival version of this same arrangement, which I have
not heard, has also been issued, though this was set down some
months later (see review
by Guy Aron.) There is also another recorded version of Das
Lied von der Erde, which uses a slightly expanded version
of the Schoenberg/Riehn scoring (review)
but since that has “improved” Mahler’s score by involving four
soloists I think I’ll be giving that a fairly wide berth.
This reduced scoring is no substitute for Mahler’s wonderful,
luminous original. However, if you are minded to investigate
Schoenberg’s act of homage then this disc seems to me to be
a good place to start.
John Quinn
Jane Irwin (mezzo); Peter Wedd (tenor)