Boulez from Beyond
I recently purchased the new cornerstone to my vinyl collection: the complete Webern recordings produced, but not exclusively conducted, by Boulez. It is a four disc set, perfect condition, and I owe it to the antiquated and wonderfully strange world of eBay. More specifically, Scott Campbell Records. The cream of the this crop is the last recording on the last disc. When I first heard Webern’s early tonal interpretations and orchestrations of Schubert’s German Dances and Bach’s Musical Offering, I felt like I was reading a comic book written by Thomas Mann, with line drawings by Klimt. They prove to be a rather stunning set of early exercises from the ambitious and proto-aristocratic Webern. But the recording on the vinyl collection differs from my digital set. The German Dances complete this master product, but offer a strange interpretation. The recording is scratchy, old, smelly, and begins like an old man plays tennis. Compared to the Boulez-conducted digital version, it sounds like a Model T next to a Ferrari. But the Model T would have to be built by Henry Ford himself, for the vinyl recording is actually Webern himself conducting a Frankfurt Orchestra in 1933. Scary. Mindful.
