Description
Arnold Schoenberg’s music tore a hole in the fabric of the twentieth century. Over the course of his life, he charted a new course through expressionism, atonality, and ultimately to the invention of twelve tone serialism. As the father of the Second Viennese School, he’s been both cursed and adored (often at the same time) by the people who’ve taken up his scores – you’ll hear quite a lot of the adoration and no small amount of the cursing on this episode of The Music Show. Danaë Killian, who is about to perform his complete solo piano works, and Jeremy Eichler, who wrote about Schoenberg in his prize-winning book Time’s Echo, join Andy, and you’ll hear voices including Pierre Boulez, singers Tabatha McFadyen, Merlyn Quaife and Jane Manning, conductors Simone Young and Roger Benedict, pianist Simon Tedeschi, violinists Jack Liebeck and Michael Barenboim, and author Joy Calico from The Music Show’s archives.
Danaë Killian performs Schoenberg’s complete solo piano music at Tempo Rubato in Naarm/Melbourne on 13 September.
Jeremy Eichler’s Time’s Echo is published by Alfred A. Knopf and Faber, newly in paperback.
Music heard in the show:
1899 - Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4
Artist: Amichai Grosz; Maxim Rysanov; Jens Peter Maintz; Janine Jansen; Boris Brovtsyn; Torleif Thedéen
Album: Janine Jansen plays Schoenberg & Schubert
Label: Decca 4783551
1905 – String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7
Artist: Julliard String Quartet
Album: Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 1
Label: Sony G010004560203F
1908 - String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10
Artist: Amaryllis Quartet, Katharina Persicke
Album: Yellow
Label: Genuin GEN16438
1909 - Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11
Artist: Danaë Killian
Album: Arnold Schoenberg - Complete Works for Piano Solo
Label: Move Records MCD513
1911 - Six Little Pieces for Piano, Op. 19
Artist: Danaë Killian
Album: Arnold Schoenberg - Complete Works for Piano Solo
Label: Move Records MCD513
1911 - Gurrelieder
Artist: Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, Philharmonia Voices, Esa-Pekka Salonen
Album: Schoenberg - Gurrelieder
Label: Signum SIGCD173
1912 - Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21
Artist: Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin/sprechgesang), Meesun Hong (violin), Julia Gallego (flute), Reto Bieri (clarinet), Thomas Kaufmann (cello), Joonas Ahonen (piano), Marko Milenkovic (viola)
Album: Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire
Label: Alpha ALPHA722
Artist: Mary Thomas (soprano/reciter), London Sinfonietta, David Atherton
Album: Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire and Serenade
Label: Decca 4256262
1923 - Five Pieces for Piano, Op. 23
Artist: Danaë Killian
Album: Arnold Schoenberg - Complete Works for Piano Solo
Label: Move Records MCD513
1923 - Suite for Piano, Op. 25
Artist: Danaë Killian
Album: Arnold Schoenberg - Complete Works for Piano Solo
Label: Move Records MCD513
1929/1931 - Two Pieces for Piano, Op. 33
Artist: Danaë Killian
Album: Arnold Schoenberg - Complete Works for Piano Solo
Label: Move Records MCD513
1930 – Accompaniment to a film scene, Op. 34
Artist: BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
Album: Pierre Boulez Edition – Schoenberg I
Label: Sony G010001828334P
1936 - Violin Concerto, Op. 36
Artist: Michael Barenboim, Vienna Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez
Album: Schoenberg: Violin and Piano Concertos
Label: Peral 4811613
Artist: Jack Liebeck, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Gourlay
Album: Schoenberg and Brahms – Violin Concertos
Label: Orchid Classics ORC100129
1942 - Piano Concerto, Op. 42
Artist: Simon Tedeschi
Performed in The Music Show studio
1947 - A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46
Artist: Gunther Reich (speaker), BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
Album: A Survivor from Warsaw
Label: Sony M35882
1949 - Phantasy for Violin and Piano, Op. 47
Artist: Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Joonas Ahonen (piano)
Album: Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire
Label: Alpha ALPHA722
Interviews heard in the show
Jerron Paxton’s music sounds like it could have been unearthed from a time capsule buried in the 1920s or 30s. His new album of original songs, Things Done Changed, finds the multi-instrumentalist playing guitar, banjo, piano and harmonica across blues, folk, ragtime and old-time Black music...
Published 11/17/24
Bill Bailey is best known for his stand-up comedy, but one of his first public performances was a Mozart piano concerto, with his own cadenza, in his hometown of Bath. He joins Andy to explain what Mozart has in common with dancing on television, how timing is crucial to both comedy and music,...
Published 11/16/24