# Webern: Complete Edition (Boulez #2)



## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I am a fan of Anton Webern's music and have been so for many decades. I have collected these albums:



























The more recent Boulez Complete Works has 6 discs, compared to the earlier one, with only 3 discs.









I have compared track listings and I don't think it offers all that much more than what I already have. The Emerson disc is entirely duplicated, I believe. The only 'new' pieces would be a handful of early songs (likely low interest for me) and a few, at most, very brief posthumous works totalling barely 10 minutes (note: a number of posthumous works appear on the albums I already have). Am I correct in my assessment of the content of the newer album?

What would be the benefit of getting this set? Some suggest that the performances are better. So good that I should throw out my entire collection and replace it with this set? Is there anything of great significance that this set has that I have not yet gotten?


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I heard the first set in complete when I was at Vanderbilt many years ago. I need to update my listening again with the updated DG set. I really dig the Emerson Quartet disc and have it ripped to ALAC format on my iPod.

You can't go wrong with having all of the Webern in the world.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

albertfallickwang said:


> You can't go wrong with having all of the Webern in the world.


That's not the kind of collector I am  I like to wet my toes and feel the temperature of the water, but even then I don't belly flop or plunge :lol: I get a little start, select carefully and get some more, etc., until I feel that I have gotten the crème de la crème, plus a nice helping of little-known gems and curious pearls :tiphat:

Considering that Webern wrote so little, in his case this means getting pretty much everything


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

The _Passacaglia_ recording in the CBS-Sony is better than the DG, livelier an more engaged; but except from that, my opinion is that everything else is better in the DG set, including the sound too, which is a benefit say in the chamber works.

The supplemetary piano music recordings in the DG set is likewise very good, the tiny _Klavierstück In Tempo eines Menuetts _ is nothing short of a miracle there.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Thanks! I wouldn't really throw out my other recordings, of course! :lol: I already have two or more versions of a number of the works, but I would definitely like having the BPO performances, too, if I can locate a copy at a dirt-cheap price or as a longterm project :tiphat:


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

The 12-tone vocal works in particular I think are markedly better in terms of phrasing and expression in the DG set. The later lieder on the Sony set are one of its weak spots (although I like Rosen on the piano).


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

This is true. I never warmed to the Lieder on the Sony Complete set, while I used to have one of Dorothy Dorow's albums on LP that was excellent!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

DG set has much better sonics. Sony set leaves a lot to be desired. Lots of tape noise, and from what I've read, the recording space was not really suited for this music. This, according to the late Frank Zappa, who was a huge Webern fan, and a great record producer. But I still listen to it, because I don't own the DG set. I just take it out of the library from time to time.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

brotagonist said:


> This is true. I never warmed to the Lieder on the Sony Complete set, while I used to have one of Dorothy Dorow's albums on LP that was excellent!


Dorothy Dorow is my favorite Webern singer.

I have both the Sony and DG sets. I prefer the DG; the Sony performances sound more clinical, whereas the DG performances are more lyrical.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

starthrower said:


> Sony set leaves a lot to be desired. Lots of tape noise, and from what I've read, the recording space was not really suited for this music.... But I still listen to it, because I don't own the DG set. I just take it out of the library from time to time.


I never noticed the poor audio, but I haven't listened since I got my new stereo.

My main complaint might be that the music is arranged by opus (I rarely listen to the non-instrumental works, so I am forced to skip a lot of tracks, which is why I purchased the Emerson and Sinopoli albums--not a bad idea, as they are great), which I paradoxically also appreciate (fewer CDs, chronological order of composition).

I think it's still a nice set.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

brotagonist said:


> I would definitely like having the BPO performances, too, if I can locate a copy at a dirt-cheap price or as a longterm project :tiphat:


It took me 14 years, but one day at the used CD store, there it was for $17. I remember letting out an audible gasp which drew some curious gazes from the other browsers.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

brotagonist said:


> I never noticed the poor audio, but I haven't listened since I got my new stereo.
> .


It's still very listenable. And the music itself sounds good. There's just a high noise to signal ratio.

I can't really complain too much, as I got it as part of the Varese, Carter, Berio box for about 15 dollars.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I've had the set since about 1990 or so  If the newer one should show up at a sensational price, minimum quality used very good, it's mine!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

brotagonist said:


> I've had the set since about 1990 or so  If the newer one should show up at a sensational price, minimum quality used very good, it's mine!


You can get it new for a lot less than it was selling for a year ago. About 30 US dollars including shp.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I looked. It's about $40 plus shipping in Canada and the UK site doesn't make it any cheaper. Ordering from the States is no longer an option: since about 2 years, shipping is $14.30 per album! I already have all the music, anyway, and I can avail myself of Naxos ML and YT, too. I'm not hankering to buy yet another version, but if the price is attractive, I would indulge in the luxury of an additional performance.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

^^^
OK then, I'll have to get it!


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## Kibbles Croquettes (Dec 2, 2014)

brotagonist said:


> I never noticed the poor audio, but I haven't listened since I got my new stereo.
> 
> My main complaint might be that the music is arranged by opus (I rarely listen to the non-instrumental works, so I am forced to skip a lot of tracks, which is why I purchased the Emerson and Sinopoli albums--not a bad idea, as they are great), which I paradoxically also appreciate (fewer CDs, chronological order of composition).
> 
> I think it's still a nice set.


Well, on the other hand arraning the music by opus numbers may group them more coherently. On the later set, the 6CD DG set, some of the pieces become associated in strange ways. For example: the posthumous 5 pieces for orchestra and 3 orchestral songs are grouped with the later serial works, instead of the orchestral pieces op. 10 or the orchestral songs op. 8 or op. 13. The quartet and concerto are grouped with the orchestral lieder and the opus 10 pieces. The four pieces op. 7 and variations op. 27 seem like they got lost and somehow were forgotten on the sixth CD with all the posthumous stuff.

To me all that seems a little odd. Like Pink Floyd's _Wish you were here_ would lead to _Comfortably numb_ and that then to _Saucerful of Secrets_. My brain is scrambled!


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