Despite the soloist/accompanist hierarchy Schoenberg intended in his Phantasy Op. 47, the violin and piano play off each other to the point where you can’t imagine one without the other. Moreover, the work’s unexpected plot twists, overt drama, and frequent playful episodes convey an emotional immediacy not easily accessed in Schoenberg’s other 12-tone chamber music. It helps that violinist Ulf Wallin and pianist Roland Pöntinen go all out in terms of color and character, making the most impassioned, dynamically charged case for this music on disc.
While the duo’s masterfully cultivated ensemble playing can’t convince me that Schoenberg’s Wind Quintet for violin and piano is less arid and academic than the original, they still set formidable standards in their world-premiere recording of the arrangement by Schoenberg’s son-in-law Felix Greissel (incidentally, there’s a 1982 recording of the flute version that’s now out of print). Both musicians, for example, take great pains to clarify the composer’s exacting indications in regard to foreground and background material. Note, too, their variety of articulations (the Rondo’s woodwind-like slurs and staccatos positively sparkle) and how they lap up the overlong Scherzando’s few rubatos. Consequently, the duo’s broad tempos never seem static or too slow. A previously unrecorded fragment from 1927 and an early, Brahms-tinged miniature flesh out this beautifully engineered disc for completeness’ sake. Such exemplary musicianship bodes well for future Schoenberg solo and chamber releases from BIS by these artists. [9/8/2005]
