Cantata No. 1, op. 29

Cantata No. 1 for soprano, chorus & orchestra, Op. 29 (1938-1939) I. "Zündender Lichtblitz des Lebens" (Getragen--Lebhaft) II. "Kleiner Flügel Ahornsamen" (Leicht bewegt) III. "Tönen die seligen Saiten Apolls" (Ruhig) Christiane Oelze, soprano BBC Singers Simon Joly, chorus master Berliner Philharmoniker Pierre Boulez Anton Webern's 1939 Cantata No. 1, Op. 29, is one of only two cantatas Webern completed in his lifetime. The librettist was Hildegard Jone, a friend of Webern who supplied the texts for all of his late works. The cantatas were the most ambitious and rewarding of all their combined efforts, but are rarely recorded or performed because of their difficulty. Many Webern fans regard the smaller First cantata as a warm up for the Second, but this opinion fails to recognize the specific strengths of the Op. 29. The first cantata, with its three brief movements and scoring for orchestra, chorus, and soprano, has the intimate appeal of community church music from the late Renaissance/early Baroque period. Its liturgy, almost rustic, shares a common prayer that sounds as though it was not intended to resonate outside the performance space, or to be heard as art for secular appreciation. [allmusic.com] Art by Fernando de Szyszlo