VOTD 5/1/2023

 Alban Berg: Chamber Music (Deutsche Grammophon)

Purchased at the Jerry's Records dollar sale

We've seen this relatively recent resurgence of vinyl records. I'll repeat myself on this point: it used to be that if you wanted a cheap way to hear an album, you'd try to track down a vinyl copy; the CD issue (even used) was more expensive. Now the opposite is true. 

But what of classical vinyl? I don't think the demand for classic recordings on vinyl records ever bounced back that way that rock and jazz records have. There are of course many, many exceptions to this. I think that the listenership for classical (whatever that word even means) has looked forward: vinyl to CD to streaming and DVD audio, and hasn't looked back as much.

It's hardly a secret that I enjoy vinyl, I like collecting records. There is one drawback however: the size and weight of them. A few records don't weight much or take up much space. When you start getting into hundred or thousands, it's a pretty big commitment of space and a huge effort to move.

I bought several big box sets at the recent Jerry's dollar sale. $1 for single issues, $2 for box sets, and half price if you went Sunday. It's probably a good thing I didn't. There was a large section of classical-only vinyl in the back of the room, and for part of the time I was the only person digging through them. One person who was looking asked me for my classical recommendations. I said something to the effect of, "I wouldn't hoist my opinion on anyone."

It's funny, I never studied the works of the so-called Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Berg, Webern) very closely. Yet, I've recently bought quite a bit of Schoenberg on the cheap, plus this beauty. 

Deutsche Grammophon. It's a pretty good guarantee that the recording quality will be excellent, the performances great, even the pressing very good. This one delivers on all three accounts. You have Pierre Boulez conducting Ensemble InterComtemporain and Pinchas Zukerman on violin, not mentioned the less familiar names (to me) Daniel Barenboim on piano and Antony Pay on clarinet.

What of the music? Berg definitely sounds like a post-Romantic, the music hinting at triadism without crossing over more than fleetingly. But I don't know, sometimes works such as these seem energetic and interesting in the moment but don't add up in the end.

It's interesting, going back to the quality of pressing. The work on the first side, "Chamber Concerto for Piano and Violin with 13 Instruments" is just shy of thirty minutes in length. How does DG do that? It's not the only record on the label I have that hits that length. It's a length that pressing plants advise against, or might even refuse in some cases. Yet it sounds great, there's no issue with stylus skating on the surface, and I don't notice any obvious distortion at the end of the side. (Maybe a tiny bit on the loudest passage at the end, but even then I'm not certain.)

And ah, the cover. Zukerman, Barenboim, and Boulez looking 1970s, with the dramatic head shot of Berg on the back, looking all the Romantic artist/genius. Almost worth the $1 paid alone.