# Favorite Verklärte Nacht?



## flamencosketches

I have only heard two versions of this towering work: the LaSalle Quartet (+2) recording of the original sextet version, and the Karajan/Berlin recording of the string orchestra version. I very much prefer the LaSalle, though Karajan does a good job with his recording. I just don't think it sounds as good with the fuller orchestration.

What are some other favorite versions? I'm looking specifically for recordings of the sextet version, but since there are many more of the string orchestra version, feel free to name those as well.

This one is quite famous, and was endorsed by the composer himself:









... so I'm sure I'll pick it up at some point. But what are some others that we like?


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## david johnson

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra


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## joen_cph

I've got these

dwl OrpheusCO/dg
cd Ormandy,PhiladO/tim 1934-00 205240-303
cd Schoenberg/Pople version; Pople,LondFestO/asv 90-97 qs6195
CD Karajan,BPO/dg 74-xx 474 721-2 + LP dg 74 2711 014
LP Horenstein,SWF/vox mono pl 10.460
LP Stokowski,StokSO/rca mono lm 2117
CD Boulez,NYPO/cbs-sony 11cd 8876 542 9572 + cbs 77 76305
lp Mitropoulos,NYPO/cbs s54068
lp Desarzens,LausChO/westm st wgs-6296
lp Ormandy,PhiladO/cbs mono ml4316

CD Sextet version (1899)/Boulez,EnsIC/cbs-sony 11cd 8876 542 9572 + LP cbs 85 im39566

I remember liking the Karajan and the Stokowski versions in particular, but it's been a while since I heard the work.


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## flamencosketches

joen_cph said:


> I've got these
> 
> dwl OrpheusCO/dg
> cd Ormandy,PhiladO/tim 1934-00 205240-303
> cd Schoenberg/Pople version; Pople,LondFestO/asv 90-97 qs6195
> CD Karajan,BPO/dg 74-xx 474 721-2 + LP dg 74 2711 014
> LP Horenstein,SWF/vox mono pl 10.460
> LP Stokowski,StokSO/rca mono lm 2117
> CD Boulez,NYPO/cbs-sony 11cd 8876 542 9572 + cbs 77 76305
> lp Mitropoulos,NYPO/cbs s54068
> lp Desarzens,LausChO/westm st wgs-6296
> lp Ormandy,PhiladO/cbs mono ml4316
> 
> CD Sextet version (1899)/Boulez,EnsIC/cbs-sony 11cd 8876 542 9572 + LP cbs 85 im39566
> 
> I remember liking the Karajan and the Stokowski versions in particular, but it's been a while since I heard the work.


I think you owe it to yourself to hear the sextet version. I think it's much better. I don't know if I trust Boulez/Ensemble Intercontemporain to deliver a quality performance of it either.


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## joen_cph

The Boulez is OK, but it's not the most romantically coloured, as far as I remember. I tend to prefer the ongoings of the string orchestra version.


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## Bourdon

The London Sinfonietta David Atherton part of this LP box


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## flamencosketches

^The Raphael Ensemble has a great disc of Brahms string sextets, works that I think share very much in common with Verklärte Nacht (they may have even been seen by Schoenberg as a starting point, I might assume). 

I can see the London Sinfonietta sounding great with these works too. They are a great band for this kind of repertoire.


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## Bourdon

flamencosketches said:


> ^The Raphael Ensemble has a great disc of Brahms string sextets, works that I think share very much in common with Verklärte Nacht (they may have even been seen by Schoenberg as a starting point, I might assume).
> 
> I can see the London Sinfonietta sounding great with these works too. They are a great band for this kind of repertoire.


A very fine Brahms edition


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## Manxfeeder

Anyone have any opinion on Simon Rattle's recording? I heard it a long time ago, and it seemed to do all the right things in all the right places.


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## Becca

Not a recording but you can always download the audio...


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## joen_cph

Manxfeeder said:


> Anyone have any opinion on Simon Rattle's recording? I heard it a long time ago, and it seemed to do all the right things in all the right places.


I still have it as part of a 2 CD Schoenberg set, but his Schoenberg didn't work for me, so I'll give another chance & decide whether to keep it.


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## Heliogabo

This is a good one:


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## Josquin13

Barbara Hannigan's live performance is very good. The group is wonderfully committed. Thanks for posting it, Becca.

In most conductor's recordings, I feel that the string orchestra version was more of an afterthought for Schoenberg, and that Verklärte Nacht works much better and makes more musical sense in the original Sextet version.

I don't overly care for the highly regarded Karajan recording, which I find too lush (although it is well played). I see Verklärte Nacht as a more searing, darker, harrowing work, like Richard Dehmel's poem upon which it is based or was inspired by; though I wouldn't deny that it has romantic elements, or a sense of redemption through love within its content, narrative, & resolution, like Dehmel's poem.

Among the orchestral versions that I have a high regard for, two performances come to mind: the first, a 1955 mono radio broadcast (in less than ideal sound) by Otto Klemperer conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, and secondly, a current conductor that I think excels in Schoenberg's music, Riccardo Chailly, in a recording that he made early in his career with the RSO Berlin (btw, their Gurrelieder is exceptional, too). Chailly's Verklärte Nacht would be my first pick among orchestral versions.

Klemperer:





Chailly: 





As for the Sextet version, I've not heard a better recording than the one by the LaSalle Quartet. IMO, they are deeply inside this music, and make other groups I've heard sound superficial in comparison. I'd imagine that, interpretatively, it makes a world of difference when a group has additionally recorded not only the complete SQs by Schoenberg, but also many other chamber works by composers of the Second Viennese School, as the LaSalle Quartet did for DG. The Hollywood Quartet is good, too, but I prefer the LaSalle Quartet's interpretation, as their version just makes more musical sense to me (& they're better recorded). Schoenberg may have approved of the Hollywood Quartet's performance, but he never heard the LaSalle Quartet play his music.

Hollywood String Quartet: 





LaSalle Quartet: 





As for other sextet recordings, I've read good reviews for the Prazak Quartet's version on Praga digitals, but haven't heard it: https://www.amazon.com/Schoenberg-V...hoenberg+Prazak&qid=1564335103&s=music&sr=1-6. Like the LaSalle Quartet, the Prazak Qt. has recorded an extensive survey of Schoenberg's chamber music, not only of the complete String Quartets & String Trio, but also Pierrot Lunaire, the Suite Op. 29, Phantasy for Violin, Op. 47, and Webern's transcription of the Chamber Symphony, No. 9, so I'd be curious to hear their Verklärte Nacht, if the recording were to be played on the radio one day.


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## starthrower

I have the Artemis Quartet recorded in 2002 on an EMI 2 CD. And the another version by the Schoenberg Quartet on the Chandos box set.

https://www.amazon.com/Schoenberg-V...ic&sprefix=schoenberg+ver,popular,152&sr=1-10

https://www.amazon.com/Arnold-Schoe...mplete+strings&qid=1564338785&s=music&sr=1-11


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## flamencosketches

^The LaSalle recording is great, isn't it? I'm surprised that the recordings of the sextet version are so few. 

I will have to check out that Klemperer recording. I am always curious to hear his recordings of 20th century works.


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## flamencosketches

starthrower said:


> I have the Artemis Quartet recorded in 2002 on an EMI 2 CD. And the another version by the Schoenberg Quartet on the Chandos box set.
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Schoenberg-V...ic&sprefix=schoenberg+ver,popular,152&sr=1-10
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Arnold-Schoe...mplete+strings&qid=1564338785&s=music&sr=1-11


I always thought that Rattle box set looked interesting, but more so now that I realize that it's the chamber version of Verklärte, I thought it was Rattle conducting the string orchestra arrangement.


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## starthrower

Yeah, it is the sextet version. I also like the orchestral pieces conducted by Rattle. It's a good set.


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## joen_cph

starthrower said:


> Yeah, it is the sextet version. I also like the orchestral pieces conducted by Rattle. It's a good set.


Yes, inspecting the 2 CD release with Schoenberg works and Rattle as a prominent name, which I mentioned earlier, it is indeed the Artemis Quartet etc. in _Verklärte Nacht_ (recorded 2002), but Rattle probably didn't have anything to do with that recording.


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## flamencosketches

^Well, that looks essential. I don't have the Chamber Symphonies or the Variations in my library anywhere.


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## starthrower

No, Rattle had nothing to do with the sextet. That release is a compilation. Not an album. There are many of those excellent EMI 2 disc comps now being re-issued by Warner. Other excellent sets are the Berg, and Penderecki if you can find them.


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## wkasimer

flamencosketches said:


> ^The Raphael Ensemble has a great disc of Brahms string sextets, works that I think share very much in common with Verklärte Nacht (they may have even been seen by Schoenberg as a starting point, I might assume).


The first time I heard Verklärte Nacht, the other work on the program was Brahms Sextet Op. 18.

The Hollywood and LaSalle are my preferred chamber versions; for the orchestral version, it's Stokowski's:


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## starthrower

I just listened to both of Boulez's recordings and I like these a lot. I prefer the sextet, but the orchestra version is fine too. Plenty of soulfulness and emotion in both performances.


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## Mathias Broucek

flamencosketches said:


> ^Well, that looks essential. I don't have the Chamber Symphonies or the Variations in my library anywhere.


The Orpheus set of both Chamber Symphonies (+ VN) is another good way to fill that gap


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## Knorf

A recent version of the sextet version _Verklärte Nacht_ that impressed me greatly is this one, accompanying Isabelle Faust's recording of the Violin Concerto. It's an all-star lineup, and extremely moving.









My favorite for the string orchestra version remains Boulez. Don't let anyone tell it's "not Romantic enough," or emotionally detached, etc.: that's rubbish. Boulez is amazing in this piece!


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## starthrower

Knorf said:


> My favorite for the string orchestra version remains Boulez. Don't let anyone tell it's "not Romantic enough," or emotionally detached, etc.: that's rubbish. Boulez is amazing in this piece!


Agreed! And the sound of the string orchestra sounds brilliant on this recording.


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## Mathias Broucek

starthrower said:


> I just listened to both of Boulez's recordings and I like these a lot. I prefer the sextet, but the orchestra version is fine too. Plenty of soulfulness and emotion in both performances.


There's a live Boulez recording with the Concertgebouw in one of the live boxes. It's amazingly sumptuous!


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