It seems entirely logical to offer these three seminal New Viennese School works together on a single disc, in this case running to some 77 minutes of music. Two of these performances–Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto and the 1942 Piano Concerto by Arnold Schoenberg–never have been bettered, and this disc should have widespread appeal to collectors with an interest in the evolution of 20th Century music. In fact, I am aware of no more persuasive reading of the concerto that Berg dedicated “To the Memory of an Angel” (Manon Gropius, daughter of Alma Mahler, who died in 1935 at the tragically early age of 18) than this one by Henryk Szeryng with the Bavarian Radio Symphony under Rafael Kubelik. To some, Szeryng at first might appear somewhat detached and cool, especially when his reading is set alongside more overtly emotional performances by Kyung-Wha Chung, Frank Peter Zimmerman, and in particular, Anne Sophie Mutter. Yet the secrets of this score do not reveal themselves so much through what is said, but rather in what remains unsaid. In other words, less is definitely more here, and with Kubelik’s watchful and restrained orchestral support a model of distinction throughout, Szeryng is able to address the work with a degree of flexibility, rapture, and zen-like restraint that’s seldom been equalled.
One problem with the original LP issue of this 1971 recording was its disappointingly compressed dynamic range. It’s good to report that Universal’s new digital remastering improves spatial spread considerably, and also adds enough bloom and reverberance to effectively tame DG’s chilly-sounding master. Alfred Brendel’s authoritative account of Schoenberg’s 1942 Piano Concerto also is benchmark material, though I doubt that many collectors initially will be tempted by its inclusion here, any more than they would buy this disc primarily to secure Zvi Zeitlin’s reading of the Op. 36 Violin Concerto. Both are thoroughly insightful, but I suspect that those with an interest in this reissue will chiefly want Szeryng’s peerless recording of the Berg.
