Belcea Quartet, Nicolas Bone, Antônio Meneses - Berg, Webern & Schönberg: Chamber Music (2015)

For some listeners, the music of the Second Viennese School is still a stumbling block, due to the complexity of techniques and the intense expressionism found in the innovative works of Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern. However, this 2015 release by the Belcea Quartet is notable for the relative accessibility of its program, which reflects the profound emotional impulses at the heart of the music, perhaps most apparent in Schoenberg's passionate string sextet, Verklärte Nacht (1899), and Webern's poignant Langsamer Satz for string quartet (1905). These are tonal works that, despite their extreme chromaticism and straining at the limitations of key, retain a feeling of Romantic lyricism that is easy for audiences to appreciate. The compressed expressions of Webern's Fünf Sätze (1909) and Berg's Lyrische Suite (1926) may require more familiarity with the development of atonality and the 12-tone method, which both composers adapted to their purposes with strikingly different results. However, the Belcea play with eloquence and expressive depth, and the performances are highly communicative and moving, without any need of detailed explanations of the compositional techniques involved. Not only is this disc a fine introduction to the Viennese modernists, but experienced listeners will enjoy it for its subtle readings and exceptional sound.