This is a historic issue of modern classics which one might expect Barenboim to record again in Chicago. It dates from the time when he was still learning the ropes as a conductor (his first Mozart concerto recordings with the ECO were issued in 1967) and the Schoenberg reflects the difficulties he had with integrating the diverse elements of large-scale late-romantic works that persisted through to his early years at Bayreuth.
Although this performance of Verklarte Nacht begins a little more briskly than most, weight of expression tends to impede rather than further the musical flow. It is never dull, however, and the ECO, in a constricted but warm acoustic, is excellent from top to bottom. There's a touching reminder of Cecil Aronowitz's special eloquence in Hindemith's Trauermusik, and the Bartok Divertimento, while often rather heavy-handed has some nice touches of delicacy, as well as of that forcefulness which hints at the work's symphonic subtext.'