Schoenberg Pelleas and Melisande- recommended recordings?

[Barbirollians]

This work has rather passed me by . I am quite partial to late romantic Schoenberg however Gurrelieder and Verklarte Nacht so seeing that DG have released a live Boulez nine years after it was recorded ! Is that the one to choose or the earlier Boulez, ,Karajan , Mehta, Craft, Sinopoli or even Barbirolli ???

[Beef Oven]

This work has rather passed me by . I am quite partial to late romantic Schoenberg however Gurrelieder and Verklarte Nacht so seeing that DG have released a live Boulez nine years after it was recorded ! Is that the one to choose or the earlier Boulez, ,Karajan , Mehta, Craft, Sinopoli or even Barbirolli ???

Abbado on DG & Karajan on EMI are the two recordings that I have owned and adored for many years. Very different approaches of course.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't know the Mehta, and it's been years since I heard the Sinopoli, but there isn't a duff recording of P&M amongst the versions you name. Karajan (DG, BeefO?!) and Boulez' ERATO recording between them are my "favourite" ; Craft is excellent at any price, but especially so from NAXOS (an even cheaper one from Thielemann on BRILLIANT - ex-DG - which is very good) and Barbirolli won't disappoint (did he ever?).

Alright, put the gun away! If I have to select just one, it's Boulez on ERATO (don't know the new one).


EDIT: Hold on, Beefo? "Abbado on DG; Karajan on EMI" - you're not thinking of Debussy, are you? (PROFUSE apologies in advance if you aren't, but I don't know any recording by Abbado, and Herbie's Debussy P&M is on EMI!)

[Bryn]

... (DG, BeefO?!) ...

[Chris Newman]

I agree with ferneyhoughgeliebte. There isn't a duff to my knowledge. I have Barbirolli, HvK and Sinopoli: all very good, but if you want one go for HvK. It is the best recording he ever made; apart from being a marvellously glorious and sumptuous interpretation leading to its tragic denouement it has a truly realistic sound, whereas his recordings often sound contrived. P & M is like Richard Strauss at his finest.

[Beef Oven]

Oops! I was thinking of the Debussy opera, not the Schonberg piece (he had not yet changed the spelling of his name to Schoenberg when he composed P&M).

Then I'd go for Karajan BPO on DG and Sinopoli Philharmonia, also on DG. Boulez on Sony is good too.

[Curalach]

I also have a Chandos recording with the SNO and my old friend Matthias Bamert. It is now available differently coupled and as a download. http://www.chandos.net/details06.asp...r=CHAN%2010285
Good performance and recording.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Boulez on Sony is good too.

I hate to be pedantic (he lied) but Boulez never recorded P&M for CBS/Sony: his earliest recording was for Erato (last available as an APEX double CD set with a very good performance of ,the Orchestral Variations and the Concertos - the latter not so good, so perhaps Karajan is the better bet, as his is coupled with a sublime recording of Verklärte Nacht!)

[Bryn]

I hate to be pedantic (he lied) but Boulez never recorded P&M for CBS/Sony: his earliest recording was for Erato (last available as an APEX double CD set with a very good performance of ,the Orchestral Variations and the Concertos - the latter not so good, so perhaps Karajan is the better bet, as his is coupled with a sublime recording of Verklärte Nacht!)

To be even more pedantic, the possibility of the Erato P & M being issued "on" CBS was not that remote (though it did not happen). After all, CBS did issue other Boulez Erato recordings under the CBS label.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Very true!