One of the strangest operas ever put on vinyl is Atonalist Arnold Schoenberg's Moses und Aron (Columbia, 3 LPs), which is partly a music drama based on Exodus, partly a musical essay on the nature of God. The opera's fascinating conflict develops between Moses, whose heart knows the Word his tongue cannot utter, and his brother Aron, who speaks glibly but substitutes for Moses' harsh and humble vision of God the opiate of a comforting father figure. To Aron, God is joy, to Moses He is awe. Moses' anguished faith can admit only of...
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