# Berg?



## Guest (Mar 7, 2014)

Would anyone care to recommend any particular pieces by Berg?

Thanks for your contribution!


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Try: 

Violin Concerto
Lyric Suite
Wozzek


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

The Violin Concerto and Lyric Suite will always get top billing due to their heart-on-sleeve romanticism - but please promise to try the Chamber Concerto for Violin, Piano and Winds as well!

Wozzeck (a gritty and psychologically uncompromising opera), 3 Pieces for Orchestra, the slinky Altenberg Lieder and Der Wein also. Listen to all these and you'll have a fair idea what he's up to!


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

Also don't leave out his string quartet op. 3.

Lulu, his 2nd and unfinished opera, is marvelous too but probably not the best place to start. When you do get around to it though, I recommend the version as completed by Friedrich Cerha with Teresa Stratas in the title role under Boulez's direction on DG.


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

As Alban Berg's output was relatively slender anything should be considered, really; the only thing I would suggest is that you maybe listen to the opera Lulu last of all - it's a great work but due to its length and complexity it's a lot to digest both musically and plot-wise, but by first listening to the earlier (and leaner) opera Wozzek it might help pave the way to appreciating Berg's musical evolution even more. 

Berg gained his chops writing quite a lot of lieder before his official opus 1 (the piano sonata - and surely one of the most assured opus 1's ever?), and although many of his songs were written in a late Romantic style while he was still a student they are, in my opinion based on the ones I've heard, as worthy of consideration as his more celebrated works. 

A wonderful composer, and I hope you enjoy listening to him.


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## Guest (Mar 7, 2014)

Many thanks for the pointers!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Yes. Berg's most approachable work is the violin concerto.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Yep. All of the above. Especially the Piano Sonata, Violin Concerto, and Lyric Suite.

Also, one of my favs that hasn't been mentioned yet is the _Vier Stücke_, Op. 5 for clarinet and piano.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Grrr, my favorites have already been mentioned. Anyway, you should check out his Chamber Concerto (or Kammerkonzert)

What I love so much about Berg is that he is the most accessible of the Second Viennese School


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Berg's op. 1 Piano Sonata is the most understandable example of his music. It is tonal,as well.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Three Orchestral Pieces

The 2 CD set on EMI is a great introduction to Berg's Music.
http://www.myclassicalnotes.com/2011/08/alban-berg/


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

millionrainbows said:


> Berg's op. 1 Piano Sonata is the most understandable example of his music. It is tonal,as well.


It's the only one of his works I have any familiarity with, and I would recommend it as well.


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

I'll throw in a third (at least) vote for the _Chamber Concerto_. It seems less popular than his violin concerto, but I prefer it (though I do like the violin concerto too).


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Just listen to everything he wrote. It's not much.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

starthrower said:


> The 2 CD set on EMI is a great introduction to Berg's Music.
> http://www.myclassicalnotes.com/2011/08/alban-berg/


I considered that, but then took the plunge and went with this:
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4746572


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## Guest (Jul 19, 2014)

violadude said:


> Just listen to everything he wrote. It's not much.


Seriously, this. I didn't do Lulu until a few months into my Bergian love affair, but he had such a great quality to quantity ratio that I was able to tackle everything else probably twice in the first week...


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## Guest (Jul 19, 2014)

Yes, I would recommend that you listen to particular pieces by Berg.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

gog said:


> Would anyone care to recommend any particular pieces by Berg?
> 
> Thanks for your contribution!


His masterpieces were the operas Wozzeck and Lulu. Atonal style music. It works reasonably well for setting dramatic pace. I would prefer Wozzeck out of the two.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

ArtMusic said:


> His masterpieces were the operas Wozzeck and Lulu. Atonal style music ... I would prefer Wozzeck out of the two.


Please offer some analytic basis for your claim -- since you have studied the two enough to make a prudential judgment of their relative worth.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

millionrainbows said:


> Berg's op. 1 Piano Sonata is the most understandable example of his music. It is tonal,as well.


It's the only one of his works I am really familiar with. Very nice, and makes me want to explore the rest of his output more thoroughly.


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