Janos Gereben ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>Deaf as I am to most of Serial Schoenberg, I have always revelled
>in the "anti-Schoenbergian" glory of his 1900 "Gurre Lieder" (or
>"Gurrelieder" or "Gurre-Lieder," let musicologists decide),

Well, it was begun in 1900, but Schoenberg didn't finish it until
1911.

>... - in the past few weeks, there were both live performances
>(Rattle-Philadelphia) and the re-issue of the Ferencsik recording in the
>EMI Classics series.  The contrast between the two is amazing.

You're comparing a live performance with a 30+-year-old recording? I'm
afraid I can't see the point.

>Boulez is Rattle-restrained, of course (his best is with the BBC Symphony,
>1974), and the combination of lush music and a Spartan director works very
>well.  Abbado conducted some fabulous performances.  Still, when it comes
>to recordings, my favorite remains the ancient Stokowsky LP (1932) - the
>cleanest, "rightest" performance I can imagine.

I presume you mean Stokowski...:-) There's also an aircheck of a 1960
Philadelphia performance, but this is cut. (Is the 1932, I can't
recall).

Deryk Barker
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