Artist: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Mario Venzago, Isabelle van Keulen, Geraldine McGreevy, Robert Murray
Title: Berg: Orchestral Works
Year Of Release: 2009 / 2022
Label: Chandos
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks + booklet) [96kHz/24bit]
Total Time: 2:37:22
Total Size: 2.98 GB

Tracklist:

Disc 1

1. Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Piano Sonata, Op. 1 (orch. T. Verbey) (12:51)
2. Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – 3 Stucke, Op. 6 (1929 Revised Version): No. 1. Praludium (04:46)
3. Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – 3 Stucke, Op. 6 (1929 Revised Version): No. 2. Reigen (05:35)
4. Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – 3 Stucke, Op. 6 (1929 Revised Version): No. 3. Marsch (10:41)
5. Mario Venzago, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra & Robert Murray – Der Wein (Sung In French) (12:58)
6. Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Passacaglia (Arr. C. Von Borries and M. Venzago) (04:22)
7. Isabelle Van Keulen, Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Violin Concerto: I. Andante - Allegretto (11:11)
8. Isabelle Van Keulen, Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Violin Concerto: II. Allegro - Adagio (17:00)

Disc 2

1. Geraldine McGreevy, Mario Venzago, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra & Saga Danielsson – 3 Bruchstuche Aus Wozzeck (3 Fragments from Wozzeck): No. 1. Marsch (March) - Wiegenlied (Lullaby) (07:23)
2. Geraldine McGreevy, Mario Venzago, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra & Saga Danielsson – 3 Bruchstuche Aus Wozzeck (3 Fragments from Wozzeck): No. 2. Variationen (Variations) (05:36)
3. Geraldine McGreevy, Mario Venzago, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra & Saga Danielsson – 3 Bruchstuche Aus Wozzeck (3 Fragments from Wozzeck): No. 3. Abschluss (Conclusions) (07:09)
4. Geraldine McGreevy, Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Lulu Suite: I. Rondo: Andante Und Hymme (15:49)
5. Geraldine McGreevy, Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Lulu Suite: II. Ostinato: Allegro (03:54)
6. Geraldine McGreevy, Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Lulu Suite: III. Lied Der Lulu: Comodo (02:44)
7. Geraldine McGreevy, Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Lulu Suite: IV. Varationen: Moderato (03:08)
8. Geraldine McGreevy, Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Lulu Suite: V. Adagio (08:46)
9. Geraldine McGreevy, Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Der Wein (13:38)
10. Mario Venzago & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Wein, Weib Und Gesang (09:24)

The works on the present album span Berg’s creative career from his first published piece, the Piano Sonata, Op. 1, here performed in the orchestration by Theo Verbey, to the Violin Concerto and the Symphonic Pieces from the Opera ‘Lulu’, the last works that were fully completed when Berg died at the age of fifty in 1935.

The Dutch violinist Isabelle van Keulen performs the Violin Concerto, for which she is well known. The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote last year: ‘Van Keulen brought Manon Gropius vividly to life in the concerto, matching her tone and expression to each episode; flighty and cheerful in the first, plucky and aggressive in the second, serenely resigned at the end, where Berg quotes a Bach chorale. The enigmatic folksong woven into both movements (hardly Bachian with its risqué text) had a mysterious feel, and van Keulen tied it all up in a performance as narrative as it was nimble.’

This comprehensive collection, performed by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (the National Orchestra of Sweden) under its former Principal Conductor Mario Venzago.

"Thanks to the lucid conducting of Mario Venzago, the magnificent and fearless playing of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and a Chandos recording which combines clarity and enormous weight, this set represents an outstanding addition to the catalogue…" (BBC Music Magazine)

"That the suites from Wozzeck and Lulu are the most pressing reasons to hear this set is due in large part to the stature and eloquence of Geraldine McGreevy's contributions, for if she ever sang either of Berg's hapless heroines on stage in the UK, I would beat a path to the opera-house door." (Gramophone Magazine)

"The main orchestra works come off extremely well here...the orchestral suites from Wozzeck and Lulu have both intensity and atmosphere. The Three Pieces, Op. 6 have more warmth here than usual, though the finale has a fine sense of impending doom." (Penguin Music Guide)

Isabelle van Keulen,violin
Geraldine McGreevy, soprano
Robert Murray, tenor
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Mario Venzago, conductor