Title: Berg: Violin Concerto - Three Orchestra Pieces Piano Sonata No.1 String Quartet No.3 - 2 cd Alban Berg (1885-1935) is, arguably, the most approachable of the three great serialist composers who were working in Vienna at the turn of the century – Schoenberg and Webern being the other two. Of the three it was Berg's whose technique was less stringently atonal: his music has a romantic lyricism that is largely absent from the later music of his two friends. This is no better illustrated than in his last work, the gorgeously wistful Violin Concerto of 1935, a work that is dedicated 'To the Memory of an Angel' – the angel being the recently deceased, 18-year-old, Manon Gropius, daughter of the Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius and Mahler's surviving widow Alma. The other works in this set help to make it the perfect introduction to Berg's music, from the Suite from his notorious opera Lulu to the beautiful Lyric Suite and the early lyricism of the Seven Early Songs. Titles   CD1 1. Violinkonzert "Dem Andenken eines Engels" (1935): Andante - Allegretto Frank Peter Zimmermann/Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart/Gianluigi Gelmetti 2. Violinkonzert "Dem Andenken eines Engels" (1935): Allegro - Adagio Frank Peter Zimmermann/Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart/Gianluigi Gelmetti 3. Lulu Suite (Symphonic Pieces from the opera 'Lulu'): I. Rondo (Andante) und Hymne Sir Simon Rattle 4. Lulu Suite (Symphonic Pieces from the opera 'Lulu'): II. Ostinato (Allegro) Sir Simon Rattle 5. Lulu Suite (Symphonic Pieces from the opera 'Lulu'): III. Lied der Lulu (Comodo) Arleen Auger/Sir Simon Rattle 6. Lulu Suite (Symphonic Pieces from the opera 'Lulu'): IV. Variationen (Moderato) Sir Simon Rattle 7. Lulu Suite (Symphonic Pieces from the opera 'Lulu'): V. Adagio Arleen Auger/Sir Simon Rattle 8. Drei Orchesterstucke Op. 6: I. Praludium: Langsam Bamberger Symphoniker/Ingo Metzmacher 9. Drei Orchesterstucke Op. 6: II. Reigen: Anfangs etwas zogernd - Leicht beschwingt Bamberger Symphoniker/Ingo Metzmacher 10. Drei Orchesterstucke Op. 6: III. Marsch. Massiges Marschtempo Bamberger Symphoniker/Ingo Metzmacher CD2 1. Piano Sonata Op. 1 Peter Donohoe 2. String Quartet, Op. 3: I. Langsam Alban Berg Quartett 3. String Quartet, Op. 3: II. Ma?ige Viertel Alban Berg Quartett 4. Lyric Suite: I. Allegretto giovale Alban Berg Quartett 5. Lyric Suite: II. Andante amoroso Alban Berg Quartett 6. Lyric Suite: III. Allegro misterioso Alban Berg Quartett 7. Lyric Suite: IV. Adagio appassionato Alban Berg Quartett 8. Lyric Suite: V. Presto delirando Alban Berg Quartett 9. Lyric Suite: VI. Largo desolato Alban Berg Quartett 10. Sieben Fruhe Lieder: 1. Nacht Sine Bundgaard/Danish Radio Sinfonietta/Matthias Pintscher 11. Sieben Fruhe Lieder: 2. Schilflied Sine Bundgaard/Danish Radio Sinfonietta/Matthias Pintscher 12. Sieben Fruhe Lieder: 3. Die Nachtigall Sine Bundgaard/Danish Radio Sinfonietta/Matthias Pintscher 13. Sieben Fruhe Lieder: 4. Traumgekront Sine Bundgaard/Danish Radio Sinfonietta/Matthias Pintscher 14. Sieben Fruhe Lieder: 5. Im Zimmer Sine Bundgaard/Danish Radio Sinfonietta/Matthias Pintscher 15. Sieben Fruhe Lieder: 6. Liebesode Sine Bundgaard/Danish Radio Sinfonietta/Matthias Pintscher 16. Sieben Fruhe Lieder: 7. Sommertage Sine Bundgaard/Danish Radio Sinfonietta/Matthias Pintscher