Your guide to classical music online

Schoenberg: Violin works/Wallin

Jed Distler

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

Despite the soloist/accompanist hierarchy Schoenberg intended in his Phantasy Op. 47, the violin and piano play off each other to the point where you can’t imagine one without the other. Moreover, the work’s unexpected plot twists, overt drama, and frequent playful episodes convey an emotional immediacy not easily accessed in Schoenberg’s other 12-tone chamber music. It helps that violinist Ulf Wallin and pianist Roland Pöntinen go all out in terms of color and character, making the most impassioned, dynamically charged case for this music on disc.

While the duo’s masterfully cultivated ensemble playing can’t convince me that Schoenberg’s Wind Quintet for violin and piano is less arid and academic than the original, they still set formidable standards in their world-premiere recording of the arrangement by Schoenberg’s son-in-law Felix Greissel (incidentally, there’s a 1982 recording of the flute version that’s now out of print). Both musicians, for example, take great pains to clarify the composer’s exacting indications in regard to foreground and background material. Note, too, their variety of articulations (the Rondo’s woodwind-like slurs and staccatos positively sparkle) and how they lap up the overlong Scherzando’s few rubatos. Consequently, the duo’s broad tempos never seem static or too slow. A previously unrecorded fragment from 1927 and an early, Brahms-tinged miniature flesh out this beautifully engineered disc for completeness’ sake. Such exemplary musicianship bodes well for future Schoenberg solo and chamber releases from BIS by these artists. [9/8/2005]


Recording Details:

Reference Recording: This one

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG - Phantasy for Violin with Piano Accompaniment Op. 47; Piece for Violin & Piano in D minor; Sonata after the Wind Quintet Op. 26 (arranged for violin & piano by Felix Greissle); Fragment for Violin & Piano

    Soloists: Ulf Wallin (violin)
    Roland Pöntinen (piano)

  • Record Label: BIS - 1407
  • Medium: CD

Search Music Reviews

Search Sponsor

  • Insider Reviews only
  • Click here for Search Tips

Visit Our Merchandise Store

Visit Store
  • Ideally Cast Met Revival of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette
    Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, NY; March 19, 2024—The Met has revived Bartlett Sher’s 1967 production of Gounod’s R&J hot on the heels of its
  • An Ozawa Story, November, 1969
    Much has justifiably been written regarding Seiji Ozawa’s extraordinary abilities and achievements as a conductor, and similarly about his generosity, graciousness, and sense of humor
  • Arvo Pärt’s Passio At St. John The Divine
    Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, NY; January 26, 2024—When one thinks of musical settings of Christ’s Passion, one normally thinks of the