These players are skilled and polished. Their performance of the Suite is the best since Atherton and about as good as I can imagine. The sheer buoyancy of the playing in the overture and the variations and the, heaven help us, dance-like feel to II and IV are a delight.

Zahir plays the piece in the Webern arrangement for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano; and, for the first time in decades of experience listening and performing this work, I did not feel that the arrangement was a poor substitute for the original. The tempos are swift, the playing is superb, and both the bright and dark sides of this masterpiece are perfectly presented.

There have been a good many recordings of the Suite, but most have disappeared from the catalog. There remain fine ones by Pierre Boulez and Robert Craft, but my favorite has been a 1970s recording played by members of the London Sinfonietta, led by David Atherton, on a Decca disc. This performance by a Spanish ensemble puts them all to shame, with its brilliance, grace, and humor. All of which is aided by a startlingly vivid recording.

I’ve played this CD three times now, and I’ve been glowing and smiling broadly the whole time. What an enjoyable disc!

Cuando parecía que Naxos había dejado en manos, casi exclusivas, de Robert Craft la progresiva grabación del catálogo de Arnold Schönberg (algo, en algunos casos, claramente cuestionable), el sello blanco nos sorprende gratamente con esta grabación del grupo Zahir Ensemble. No solo destacan las excelentes prestaciones del conjunto hispalense (al menos en su génesis) y de su director Juan Carlos Rodríguez, sobre todo en el Op. 29 (lo digo por la dura competencia), sino también la oportunidad de grabar la Sinfonía op. 9 (1906) en la versión reducida que realizó Anton Webern en 1923 (apenas cinco instrumentos). Solo recuerdo otra grabación del Nash Ensemble para Virgin. Una versión (la de Webern) que lleva los genes de síntesis, del discípulo, a una pieza donde todavía se respira el atardecer del romanticismo. Realmente interesante. Creo que este disco es la presentación en grabación del Zahir Ensemble. Seguro que no será la última. Nuevo éxito de promoción (colabora también el Ministerio de Cultura) de Naxos.