Arnold Schönberg: Violin Concerto & Verklärte Nacht

Almost forty years separate Verklärte Nacht ( Transfigured Night ) from the Violin Concerto – the former still influenced by the idiom of Brahms and Wagner, the latter deriving from the richness of that later period when Schoenberg managed to combine a multiplicity of approaches within his twelve-note system. Between post-Romantic twilight and ‘ classical ’ rigour, Isabelle Faust and her most faithful partners offer us an extraordinarily lively interpretation of some of the most remarkable pages in twentieth-century musical literature.

The secret of her success lies in her ability to bring an immense amount of poetry and fantasy to the immensely complex solo part…As a result, the listener gets drawn into the drama of the musical argument rather than becoming bogged down by the sheer density of Schoenberg’s writing. Another plus for the present recording is the superb contribution from Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, whose players bring the requisite emotional heft and textural transparency to the orchestral part. — BBC Music Magazine, July 2020,