# Berg: Violin Concerto



## soni (Jul 3, 2018)

Berg's Violin Concerto is currently on the 12th tier of the Talk Classical community's favorite and most highly recommended works.

Wikipedia article
Trout's recommended recordings

This is currently the highest ranked atonal work, so I thought it deserved a reference thread. I think it's a very beautiful piece of music - especially the opening gets me every time.

*What do you think about this work? Do you like it? Dislike it?*

I think this is a good work for traditionalists starting to get a taste of modernist music. (In fact come to think of it, it may be useful if there was a list of recommendations for such people?)


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I just want to post Trout's actual list: 

Condensed Listing:	
1.	Mutter, Levine (cond.), Chicago Symphony Orchestra	(1992)
2.	Krasner, Webern (cond.), BBC Symphony Orchestra	(1936)
3.	Grumiaux, Markevitch (cond.), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra	(1966)
4.	Perlman, Ozawa (cond.), Boston Symphony Orchestra	(1978)
5.	Szeryng, Kubelík (cond.), Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra	(1968)
6.	Suk, Ančerl (cond.), Czech Philharmonic Orchestra	(1965)
7.	Zukerman, Boulez (cond.), London Symphony Orchestra	(1984)
8.	Chung, Solti (cond.), Chicago Symphony Orchestra	(1983)
9.	Gitlis, Strickland (cond.), Vienna Symphony Orchestra	(1953)
10.	Stern, Bernstein (cond.), New York Philharmonic Orchestra	(1959)


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

soni said:


> I think this is a good work for traditionalists starting to get a taste of modernist music.


I guess I'm an outlier, but it took me a long time to warm up to this one (three recordings and attending a live performance). I found myself mostly twiddling my thumbs waiting for the chorale. I finally got to where it clicks with me. But I would maybe put it fourth or fifth on the modernist introduction list after a few pieces that are more accessible.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Beautiful piece, and indeed the one that opened up the second Viennese school for me in the late eighties.


----------



## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

A very beautiful work. My favorite recording is the Suk/Ancerl/CPO on Supraphon, I think. It's been some time since I've heard it.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

flamencosketches said:


> A very beautiful work. My favorite recording is the Suk/Ancerl/CPO on Supraphon, I think. It's been some time since I've heard it.


I need to look that one up. Ancerl is one of my favorite conductors.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Am I dreaming or did Berg use the opening melody (or one very much like it) in another of his works (possibly the _Lyric Suite_?)


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

One of the very greatest violin concertos (certainly in my top 5). I know and enjoy many recordings but think my favourites (all quite different so I need them all) are Suk's, Zehetmair's and Faust's:


----------



## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Though I enjoy Berg more than other Second Viennese School composers the violin concerto never registered with me like some of his other works. People keep saying it's beautiful but most performances I know -- including the famous ones on the list and others -- seem anything but, often focusing on death and loss, being overly loud, and sometimes even dreary.

I thought there was another way to approach this music and found a recording in recent years that is gentle and lyrical without the typical histrionics. It's from Antje Weithaas who has recorded it twice. This is the one I know









Of the ones listed above the one with best staying power for me is Ivry Gitlis from 1953 that was once coupled on a Vox LP with Berg's Chamber Concerto for Violin, Piano and 13 Wind Instruments. This is my favorite version of that piece.


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ I'm guessing you haven't heard the Zehetmair recording? It is quite cool in temperature. On the other hand it is very much a work of the late Romantic so you might expect and is a work "inspired" by the death of a loved one, so ... .

Meanwhile, I'll check out the Weithaas disc - thanks for the tip.


----------



## EmperorOfIceCream (Jan 3, 2020)

I like Itzhak Perlman's and Seiji Ozawa's album on Deutsche Grammophon that pairs Berg's violin concerto and Stravinsky's Violin Concerto in D Minor. The Stravinsky Concerto is nice also, and I don't even like most neoclassical music.


----------



## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

As others have mentioned, this was the first 2nd Viennese school work that I really fell in love with. It has become one of my favorite violin concertos of any era. My favorite recording is the Mutter/Levine/CSO paired with Rihm's Time Chant (which I also really like, though it took me longer to warm to). I'm interested in exploring the Weithass mentioned above. I enjoy the expressive nature of the music, but I'm curious about a cooler interpretation as well.


----------



## MrMeatScience (Feb 15, 2015)

Maybe my favorite violin concerto of them all. Certainly my favorite work from the Second Viennese School! Berg built some recognizable tonal structures into his row for this piece, which I think accounts for some of its comparative accessibility. I usually go for Faust/Abbado, which never fails to move me, but I spin Krasner/Webern sometimes for the historical interest.


----------

