Rediscovering Anton Webern

J.S. BACH-WEBERN: A Musical Offering: Ricerare.¹ WEBERN: 2 Songs for Mixed Choir & 5 Instruments.^3,6 5 Movements for String Orchestra.⁵ 2 Songs for Voice & 8 Instruments.^2,5 5 Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 10.⁵ 4 Songs for Voice & Orchestra, Op. 13.^1,4 6 Songs for Voice & 4 Instruments, Op. 14.^2,4 5 Sacred Songs for Voice & 7 Instruments, Op. 15.^2,4 Das Augenlicht, “Through Our Open Eyes.” ^3,5 Variations for Orchestra, Op. 30.¹ Cantata No. 2, Op. 31 for Bass, Soprano, Chorus & Orchestra^3,5,7 / ¹Twentieth Century Classics Ens.; ²Members of 20th Century Classics Ens.; ³Simon Joly Chorale; ⁴Tony Arnold, sop; ⁵Philharmonia Orch.;  ⁶Members of Philharmonia Orch.; ⁷David Wilson-Johnson, bs & Claire Booth, sop; Robert Craft, cond / Naxos 8.557531

While re-reading Robert Craft’s excellent book, Stravinsky Discoveries and Memories (Naxos Books, 2013), I ran across some extremely interesting comments on the music of Anton Webern including a few by Webern himself, and they confirmed my belief that most of the music of the New Vienna School was never meant to be performed in a clipped, cut-and-dry style but, rather, with legato phrasing and moments of rubato. The reason, of course, is that these were musicians, not machines, and they grew up in an atmosphere in which musical phrasing was curvilinear and not brittle and angular. Of course, the same thing applies to all modern composers who shook the world between the years 1910 and 1950, a group which includes but is not restricted to Béla Bartók (listen to his own piano recordings of his music!!!), Zoltán Kodály, Serge Prokofiev. Artur Schnabel and of course Alban Berg, which is why I always prefer recorded performances that reflect these features of musical styles.

The particular comment that struck me forcibly in Craft’s book was that Webern’s late works were “never” performed correctly until the early 21st century, also that Tony Arnold’s performances of Webern’s songs were superior to those of Marni Nixon, who had recorded the Webern songs with Craft back in the mid-1950s. This spurred me to go online and research his later recordings of these works, and voila, this is the CD I came up with—one of the very few of Webern’s music that I didn’t have in my collection. And to paraphrase the title of Craft’s book, these performances really were a “discovery.”

Quite aside from the high quality of these performances by the various forces involved, one is continually astonished by Craft’s taut, dramatic conducting. For a man who was in his late 80s at the time, it is almost unbelievable; there is no drop-off in intensity in any of his late Naxos recordings, even when compared to his earlier self. I’m convinced that if he had a wider repertoire and didn’t just confine himself to four composers, of which the only early one was Gesualdo, Craft would be thought of as one of the greatest conductors of all time. But of course, the reason he did confine himself to these composers was that their music was, and remained, under-represented on records for nearly a half-century, and since his performances and recordings were so meticulously researched and rehearsed, everyone knew before buying the records that his interpretations were to be considered the last word on these composers. (Note that he stopped recording Gesualdo once he realized that several other very skilled Renaissance vocal groups had finally come to terms with them.)

Webern’s one transcription on this disc, the Bach Ricerare, is skillfully orchestrated, with sparse textures and only one or two chords attacked by the full orchestra. He frequently uses the brass, especially the trumpets, to play counter-lines against the strings, knowing that their timbres would not blend. And this is also what we hear as soon as we get into the two songs for chorus and mixed instruments. What fascinated me in this music was the extremely complex counterpoint that Webern created, again voiced for clarity and transparency so that the chorus can stand out. What a phenomenal ear this man had! I was lucky enough to hear his Five Pieces for Orchestra twice in live performances, once by Pierre Boulez when he was music director of the New York Philharmonic (and trust me, New York audiences did NOT appreciate him; in fact, they hated him and that music) and once by Michael Gielen with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Gielen tried to soften the blow by mixing the Webern pieces with excerpts from Schubert’s Rosamunde music. I liked it, but again it didn’t go over well with the staid audience.

In the second of the 5 Movements for String Orchestra, marked “Sehr langsam,” Craft’s new approach to Webern is apparent, especially in the languorous legato of the viola soloist. And yes, it makes a very different impact on the listener that hearing it played in the stiff, clipped fashion that it was recorded at=, even by Craft, in the 1950s, but you can even hear a more relaxed approach to rhythm in the following, faster “Sehr bewegt.” The music, quite simply, has a different vibe. It’s not exactly sweet music, to be sure, but much of its abrasiveness is defused when played this way.

The songs performed here by Tony Arnold are also, as promised, better than the Nixon recordings, but this is due not only to the new approach to the music. Arnold, quite simply, had a sweeter voice with an even better legato than Nixon, good though she was for that time. I think the only soprano of the 1950s who would have given better performances than Nixon would have been Magda Lászlo, who seldom performed in America. In addition to her sweeter voice and purer legato, Arnold also at least attempts to interpret the lyrics, thus making her a genuine lieder singer and not just “a voice.”

And of course, the sonics on this album far outstrip Craft’s Columbia recordings of the ‘50s. For once, Naxos avoided overloading these recordings of excessive reverb and echo. There is natural space around voices and instruments, which is all you need, in fact anything more than this would have spoiled one’s listening experience to the almost lace-like delicacy of Webern’s scoring. Here we can appreciate, as for instance in the Op. 10 5 Pieces for Orchestra, his use of “space” and quietude in combination with a lyrical performance.

I was particularly interested to hear the Cantata No. 2 since I already owned, and liked, his Cantata No. 1. This is even a bit longer than its predecessor and, for once, Webern used a full-sized orchestra to back his soloists and chorus. Craft was one of those rare conductors who always had excellent taste in singers, thus I didn’t feel the need to cringe before hearing the bass soloist (Davis Wilson-Johnson), but this was 2008 and even for Craft, he had to compromise with a singer whose voice is basically unsteady, though his pitch is fairly good and his diction excellent. Soprano Claire Booth, however, was excellent. Sadly, the text was not included in the booklet because at that time (2008) the poetry of Hildegard Jone were still under strict copyright, but now, in 2024, the statute of limitations has run out (at least in Europe if not in America, where greedy bastards insist on at least 100 years to make sure that no one can profit from dispersing high art which only appeals to perhaps 20% of the world population), and you can find the texts on Emily Ezust’s superb LiederNet Archive, one of the great (if sometimes maddeningly incomplete) resources in the world. In a nutshell, it is a largely secular cantata (or perhaps more accurately, a Deist cantata) focusing on the sounds of nature. Here are the lyrics of the second section:

Very deeply muted, innermost life sings
in the beehive in the quiet midnight,
because within it there still comes the message
that diligence creates sweetness from colourful multiplicity.
The beehive, the white canopy of stars,
is densely permeated by the sweet light of creation.
Within it circles every bee-world,
until the swarm breaks out into eternal morning.
The heart, the smallest beehive,
surrounds all of the others.
Its honey is clarified by the one beekeeper
who loves the sweetness of pure love,
which he bestows fully.

Being one of Webern’s late works (written in 1941-43), we are given the full brunt of his mature style in this cantata. Even with Craft’s “new” approach, this music is harmonically more abrasive than almost anything that preceded it on the CD, but like all of Webern’s music it is not confused or assembled just to create cheap effects. He put tremendous thought into every note, let alone every bar, but even the most advanced listener will feel disoriented at times when he ends different sections of this work in the middle of nowhere, without any resolution, not even an atonal resolution.

Listening to nearly 80 full minutes of Webern at one sitting can be a challenge even with this more lyrical approach. So many pieces are so dense (e.g., the 5 Sacred Songs, Op. 15, which makes the Op. 13 songs sound almost like Schubert) that continuous listening not only taxes the mind but tends to run many of these works together, which was never Webern’s intention. Thus I recommend that you take a few breaks when listening to this music. It will enhance your appreciation of these small, delicately-crafted gems, sparkling but miniature cameos cut with the tip of a pin. Even the Variations for Orchestra, which runs seven and a half minutes, sounds longer because so much music is compressed into each and every bar. In addition, Webern’s constant use of short pauses gives one the impression of hearing several movements during that timespan rather than just one.

Highly recommended. If you don’t have these works in your collection, this CD is an absolute must, and even if you own the early Craft Webern set, you need to hear how these performance were modified to meet Webern’s meticulous demands.

—© 2024 Lynn René Bayley

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