Thread: Interesting couplings on CD that you like, would recommend...

The title puts it in a nutshell.

Please post here & discuss recordings that you think have interesting couplings & may be of interest for others in some ways. It would be particularly interesting to discuss CD's with less "predictable" or "out of the ordinary" couplings, from standard repertoire to middle of the road & more obscure things. It could be a disc with a selection of works of a single composer or two or more composers (in any "genre/s" or "period/s" etc.). Multiple disc sets are also good.

I personally love these kinds of collections, because I like to "tick many boxes" or "kill two birds (or maybe even more!) with one stone" when buying a new CD. I'm not a huge CD collector, so I like to "cover all bases" (or as many as possible) within the ambit of the one CD (or a couple/few of them), if it's possible.

Here's one I just got yesterday. I hadn't heard the music of either of these two composers before. I think it's a good coupling because these two composers were from different periods in history composing music for similar combinations (plucked instruments). Weiss was a big figure in the "Baroque" period, Hoffmann also made an impact in the "Classical" period. Both of their music has recently been revived and put on record for the first time. This is a great disc potentially offering something to many listeners, from chamber fans, to people who like plucked instruments, to lovers of music in general from these periods, to people who want to try out this music for the first time, and so on...

Here's one that I got a while ago & I think it's an interesting, imaginative & well thought out coupling. The three works on this disc are -

Kurt WEILL - Berliner Requiem
Arnold SCHOENBERG - A Survivor from Warsaw
Leonard BERNSTEIN - Symphony #3 "Kaddish"
(on the Nimbus label)

All three works are choral/vocal, the last two with narration (in English). All works are by composers reflecting on events of their times, esp. with regards to racial/political persecution. Quite dark, of course, but all three works provide insights into these issues, as well as how these composers tackled them in their different ways. Bernstein's Kaddish symphony is the highlight of the disc for me, it is narrated by a former friend of his & survivor of the Holocaust, Samuel Pisar. He gives a very emotional delivery, telling his story like it was, but there is much hope in the end. Some people find this cheesy & think it's kind of inappropriate to compose a work reflecting on an event that caused the death of millions. Can we express these things (or should we) with music? But whatever the merits of this work (& I think it's very good, both musically & emotionally, btw), it's important that it was written for many reasons. Eg. to let future generations know what happened, since many people now don't even know (or know a lot about) that this happened, & this has not been helped by some extremists (eg. the "Holocaust deniers"). It's also quite amazing that Mr Pisar doesn't make any slip-ups in this highly charged live performance (not ones that I could hear, but I'm not focused on these things usually).

I have this CD

Actually, I don't know what I was thinking, its not that curious, but its a great CD.

I tend to avoid discs that have works by more than one composer as occasionally it has led to unwanted duplication (i.e. Ravel's String Quartet always appearing to be joined at the hip with Debussy's) but my favourite 'kill two birds with one stone' discs are the budget Warner disc which combine Dvorak's Sextet with Smetana's Piano Trio, Beethoven's Septet with Mendelssohn's Octet (another Warner) and the Musique D'Abord disc which couple Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata with Mendelssohn's two Cello Sonatas.

@ elgars ghost - Well, the last three you mention kind of fit the bill of what I'm talking about, they're more "innovative" couplings, shall we say. I wasn't trying to shut people out, esp. newbies, but it is true that the Ravel/Debussy string quartets combination, & things like the Schumann/Grieg piano concertos have kind of been "done to death" for yonks. Yes, duplication can be an issue, esp. with more popular works, but I have seen & have got quite a few discs that are good in many ways, eg. if you want to "dip your toes in the water" to hear something from composers/repertoire largely unknown to you, or that you don't yet have on disc...

Yes, Sid - I see what you mean. They are certainly suitable for fledgling collections as it is a quick way to expand the listener's repertoire but for some reason I never seemed to acquire all that many over the years. There was another I forgot to mention - I guess with Berg's piano sonata there is no real option but to combine it with the works of others as this was his sole contribution to the solo piano repertoire and as luck would have it this, plus the complete piano works of Schoenberg and the brief piano variations op. 27 by Webern fill a disc very nicely! I have the Naxos one.

I've recently bought a live recording of Kurt Masur conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. It features Schoenberg's Survivor from Warsaw, followed by Bruckner's Seventh.

I didn't know the Schoenberg piece and was amply unsettled by it. But it was even more unsettling, perhaps, to hear the serene opening of the Bruckner Seventh right after it.

Bruckner is an interesting choice anyway to play with an Israeli orchestra. Not only was Bruckner a well-known Wagner fanatic. The Austrian town of Linz, from where Bruckner's career had once taken off, was also the place where Hitler had envisioned his old-age residence to be. And on top of that, the adagio of the Seventh - prominently featuring Wagner tubas - was written in part as a musical farewell to Wagner, who had just died. Later, it was played on Nazi radio after the announcement of Hitler's death.

In a sense, the Bruckner Seventh is about as close as one can get to playing Wagner without playing Wagner. Perhaps the Schoenberg piece was designed to offset this. On a purely musical level, however, the effect of their combination is rather staggering. In a good way or in a bad, I'm not sure.

The performances themselves are splendid, by the way. The Bruckner is quite subdued, it almost has a chamber music like feel to it.

^^
Yes that is an imaginative coupling, Andreas. I would get it but I already have other recordings of those two works.

You remind me of another Israeli orchestra, the East-West Divan orch., under Daniel Barenboim, that coupled Tchaikovsky's 6th with Schoenberg's Variations, but I have yet to hear it. Its a potential buy for me since I currently do not have either of these works in my collection. But I've taken a bit of a slow down in buying since my 'to listen' pile is massive. & that Tchaikovsky work frankly depresses me, even though generally I love his music.

But anyway, it could be of use to other members.