Anton WEBERN: Passacaglia, op. 1; 5 movimientos, op. 5 (versión para orquesta); 6 piezas para orquesta, op. 6; Im Sommerwind; Ricercare à 6 (Bach); Danzas alemanas (Schubert). Orquesta Filarmónica de Berlín; Pierre Boulez. Deutsche Grammophon 447099-2 [66'48"]

With the exception of the Bach and Schubert arrangements this is all relatively early, pre-serial Webern, yet Boulez devotes as much care and as much affection to the D minor Passacaglia and to the undeniably immature but irresistibly luscious Im Sommerwind as to the far more characteristic Op. 5 and Op. 6 pieces. Indeed, if the Passacaglia is anything to go by, a Brahms symphony cycle from Boulez would be a fascinating prospect, while his reading of the «idyll for large orchestra» suggests that his Delius might be no less interesting. In fact I was reminded of Delius, if only momentarily, because Boulez is so good at distinguishing all those things that are quite un-Straussian in a work whose debt to Strauss is obvious. Even here, with markings as untypical of the older Webern as «merrily», «jubilantly» and «with verve», subtle scoring and musing quietness are more frequent than sheer opulence. Boulez does not imply that the mature Webern is present here in embryo; but he does perhaps make us ask how much of that later music is, like this, inspired by nature. To be reminded of Brahms by the Passacaglia is no less appropriate. This is a Janus of a piece, looking back not only to Brahms's Fourth Symphony but beyond (the presence of the Bach/Webern Ricercare points that up), and at the same time moving onwards from the delicate chamber passages in Im Sommerwind towards the «orchestral chamber music» of Op. 5 and Op. 6. Boulez looks both ways too, with rich orchestral amplitude and expressive phrasing (very broad rubato) but he also notices Webern's already marked liking for transparent textures, quiet subtleties of string colour and the sound of the muted trumpet. And yes: heard in this context the shorter pieces are a logical progression. They are intensely expressive, with a wide range of emotion often within a very few bars; no wonder Boulez prefers the earlier, richer scoring of Op. 6. He obviously loves their Mahler-derived dissolution of the boundary between orchestral and chamber music, and encourages the Berlin Philharmonic to play with great tonal beauty, aware that a recurrent marking in mature Webern is «tenderly». Those qualities recur in the Bach and Schubert arrangements; the rubato in the Fourth Schubert Dance and the Viennese charm of the Fifth suggest that a Boulez Fledermaus, even, might be a gleam at the back of his mind. The recordings, very properly, are warm as well as clean.