Anton Webern (1883-1945) has often been overshadowed by the figure of Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) in the history of the advancement of serialism or other kinds of twelve-tone-based music. But Webern’s discipline always included a free-spiritedness which most clearly shows up in a great many contemporary composers (Alfred Schnittke and Toru Takemitsu come to mind) and it shows up on this disc, a collection of chamber works all of which are surprisingly bright and lucid, even if they are intellectually challenging. Five Movements for String Quartet, which begins the disc, and the String Quartet opus 28 which ends it are cogent expressions of Webern’s even-temperedness; nothing blasts, nothing blares here. Certainly nothing broods. Indeed, what emerges in this music is Webern’s strongly meditative nature, something that will influence both John Cage and his famous pupil Morton Feldman later on. And in Webern’s String Trio you’ll hear ideas Shostakovich will expand upon in his own string quartets. The performance level in these works is quite good. But be warned: these are “live” recordings. The miking of the instruments is quite close and can be blunt at times. And you’ll hear at least two noticeable coughs in the background. But don’t let those little intrusions turn you away from the pleasures of the music featured on this release.
