Complete works / Anton Webern, Pierre Boulez [grabación sonora]

CD No.1:
Pasacaglia for orchestra op. 1
5 Movement op. 5
6 Pieces for orchestra op. 6:
2 Arrangements J. S. Bach: Fuga (Ricercata) a 6 voci Schubert: German dances op. posth. D 820 Im Sommerwind

CD No. 2 :
5 Pieces for orchestra
3 Orchestral songs Symphony op. 21 -- Das Augenlicht op. 26 Cantata No. 1 op. 29 Variations for orchestra op. 30 Cantata No. 2 op. 31.

CD No. 3:
Piano quintet Entflieht auf leichten kähnen op. 2 bbc singers 2 Lieder op. 8
5 Piecees for orchesra op. 10
4 Lieder op. 13 6 Lieder op. 14
5 Sacred songs op. 15
5 Canons op. 16
3 Traditional Rhymes op. 17
3 Lieder for voice, E flat clarinet and guitar op. 18
2 Lieder op. 19 bbc singers Quartet op. 22
Concerto op. 24.

CD No. 4:
3 Poems 8 Early Lieder 3 Lieder on poems by Ferdinand Avenarius 5 Lieder on poems by Richard Dehmel 5 Lieder from der siebente Ring by Stefan George op. 3 5 Lieder from poems by Stefan George op. 4 4 Lieder from poems by Stefan George 4 Lieder op. 12 3 Songs from Viae inviae by Hildegard Jone op. 23 3 Lieder on poems by Hildegard Jone op. 25

CD No. 5:
Slow movement for string quartet 5 movements for string quartet String quartet 6 bagatelles for for string quartet op. 9 Rondo for for string quartet Movement for string trio op. post. 3 pieces for for string quartet. String trio op. 20 String quartet op. 28 Emerson string quartet

CD No. 6:
2 pieces for cello and piano Movement for piano Sonata movement (rondo) for piano 4 pieces for violin and piano op. 7 3 little pieces for cello and piano op. 11 Cello sonata Kinderstück for piano Piano piece Variations for piano op. 27

Pierre Boulez's Complete Webern Edition appears just over two decades after his last traversal. Well, it's not literally complete, but does have enough early works to set the mature ones in the right context. These days, Webern is no longer seen so much as a new music guru as he is a major composer, pure and simple--his expression as concise as it is intense. Performancewise, there's a quality of musicianship here that few previous recordings have matched; familiarity with the idiom certainly plays its part, but so does Boulez's belief that what we're hearing needs to be presented with conviction. Try the Passacaglia, sensuous music that combines the soundworld of Brahms and Mahler, or the string quartet or orchestra pieces--miniatures in duration, but whole dramas of expression. Ease of performance doesn't always make this music easy to come to grips with: the song cycles need several listenings to grasp the meaning behind the compression, while the later instrumental and choral works have a luminous austerity that looks back to Bach and beyond to Renaissance masters such as Schütz and Isaac. While much of Webern's music has long been admired, only now is it becoming possible to respond to it through the heart as well as the brain. This set, superbly packaged and comprehensively documented, marks a major step forward, and deserves investigating by anyone keen to appreciate something of the music's quiet, calm essence in an often strident, dislocated century. --Richard Whitehouse