Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Your reviewer is a simple soul who likes to look for the best in things so when a conductor as renowned as Robert Craft and a record label as reputable as Naxos go to the trouble of recording and releasing this CD I feel obliged to take it seriously. Actually, it opens very promisingly with an orchestral transcription of J S Bach's "Ricercata" from his 'Musical Offering' that I enjoyed very much indeed. And then things start to get difficult. I freely admit that I do not understand Webern's approach to composition and there were points where I almost reached for the eject button - and then something would catch my ear and I would carry on listening. This CD has almost 80 minutes of vocal and orchestral music, including "Five Sacred Songs" sung by the soprano Tony Arnold. She sings very well and I was sufficiently impressed to look up the translation from the German on the Naxos website. However these five songs are the only explicitly sacred pieces in the collection and, interesting though they are, I would not recommend buying the CD on the strength of them alone. Anton Webern (1883-1945), with Alban Berg, was a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna, moving in style to atonalism and then serial technique, writing music of brief concision and often of extreme delicacy. His influence on later composers has been very considerable. If you have an interest in 20th century music this may be a useful introduction to Webern. Certainly, Craft's booklet notes make a strong case for his significance.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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