This is Zubin Mehta’s second recorded version of these cornerstone works of Arnold Schoenberg’s pre-atonal period. The earlier readings, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, were taped for Decca around 1970. In these pieces Schoenberg’s linear style tempers Mehta’s occasional tendency to be thoughtlessly lush in sound and mushy in concept. How do these new ones compare? The Decca recordings, which had rather opaque, blocky sound, have more impetuosity than these later ones, but the new readings improve in depth and formal insight. Verklärte Nacht, played by a smaller string orchestra, has less momentary emotionalism than before and therefore conveys a truer, richer flow of feelings in the dialogue between the man and woman. But there is one moment in the score that must stand out emotionally–the glorious shift to C major, where unconditional love and forgiveness transfigures the bleak night. This release’s flaw is that this moment is understated, costing the work some of its payoff. So while the very successful Chamber Symphony improves on its predecessor, I’d rather hear the Decca Verklärte Nacht.
In both cases the sound is a great improvement. Farao Classics, a newish and smaller firm located in Munich, prides itself on having a staff of professional musicians. Whatever the cause, the sound on this hybrid SACD serves the music especially well. In surround-sound the 15 instruments of the Chamber Symphony locate into specific places, making it easy to follow the strands of Schoenberg’s busy polyphonc web. In Verklärte Nacht this transparency is well-nigh ideal for the string orchestra arrangement. You hear each of the six parts of the string sextet original version as being translated into individual groups, rather than feeling that the sextet has been simply merged into a single mass of strings.
