Berg: Seven Early Songs, Two Songs after Theodor Storm etc; Hartmann: Lamento | CD review

Banse/Madzar (ECM)Separated by 18 years, Alban Berg's two settings of Theodor Storm's poem Schliesse Mir die Augen Beide neatly articulate his composing career. The first version dates from 1907, the time of Berg's Piano Sonata, Op 1, and his studies with Schoenberg, when his music was still anchored in traditional tonality, the second from 1925, when he was poised to adopt his former teacher's 12-note method. Embedded in their different worlds, each is a jewel-like miniature, in which Juliane B...

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