Schoenberg, Berg, Webern: Piano Music (1999)

The Solo Music Of The Second Viennese School

The music of Arnold Schoenberg (1885 -- 1935) and his students Alban Berg (1885-- 1935) and Anton Webern (1883 -- 1945) brought something creative, revolutionary, and controversial to music. The change they effected in compositional style was so marked that Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern are frequently referred to as the "Second Vienese School." This CD includes virtually all the solo piano music composed by the Second Viennese School. The works are short and in a variety of styles. Pianist Peter Hill, a specialist in the performance of 20th century music, including works by Stravinsky and Messiaen, gives a deeply informed and probing reading of these difficult works.

Alban Berg's piano sonata, opus 1 (1908) is the earliest of the works on this CD, composed after Berg had completed four years of study with Schoenberg. Berg's only work for solo piano, the sonata is lyrical, reflective and accessible. It is a late romantic masterpiece, full of changes in harmonies, tempo, and dynamics. The work develops from a quiet, meditative theme, stated at the outset, and rises develops to moments of great force and passion. It comes, at last, to a quiet, serene close in which the tonal character of the piece is confirmed.

Arnold Schoenberg was the creator of "atonal" or fully chromatic music. (As it developed, it uses all the black and white keys on the piano without establishing a key center.) Schoenberg's output for piano solo is small, but Schoenberg used his writing for the instrument to develop his musical ideas. There is a tendency to over-intellectualize Schoenberg's work and that of his student Webern, (Berg's music, even at its most atonal, is overtly romantic and tugs at the heart.) but the music is full of passion when given a chance.

Schoenberg's Three Piano Pieces, op. 11 and his Six Little Piano Pieces, op, 19 date from 1909 and 1911. The pieces of 1909 are sometimes dubbed as "Brahms with dissonances" as Schoenber composed music in a romantic mood while venturing into the musical language of atonality. The initial two pieces are recognizably romantic, in themes and structure, while the brief third piece moves into a language much more impressionistic, fragmentary and difficult. The set of six little piano pieces are short and intense, following the third piece of op. 11. The final piece of the set, with its bell-like conclusion was written for the funeral of Gustav Mahler.

Following WW I, Schoenberg developed his music by using the twelve-tone scale for which he is best remembered. The five piano pieces, opus 23 consists, again of very short works, which take small clusters of notes and explore them intensely. The final work of the set, a waltz, is the only work of this set in a 12-tone idiom. The suite for piano opus 25, written at the same time as the opus 23, is 12-tone throughout. But the feel of the music shifts from romanticism to a throwback to the baroque suite, as Schoenberg's movements each bear the name of, and a distant resemblance to, a dance movement from an early harpsichord suite, such as "prelude", "musette" "gavotte", and "gigue". Schoenberg's final piano works, op. 33A and op. 33b, combine, in short compass the romantic and the baroque elements of op. 23 and op. 25.

Anton Webern wrote only one short piece for solo piano, the Variations, op 27, but it exerted great influence on many subsequent 20th century composers. It is a three-movement work, in which only the third movement consists of variations. For many years, Webern's music was thought, even by his admirers and imitators, to be formal and cold with little room for feeling. But this view seems to be a misapprehension of the music's nature and purpose, as Webern, following his teacher, tried to write tersely and to pack emotion and feeling into very short, succinct phrases. I found that approaching the music in this way helped me to respond to it.

Berg's sonata has become established, and rightly so, in the piano literature, but Schoenberg and Webern still remain more respected than heard. For those possessing good familiarity with music and patience for repeated hearings, this music will be deeply rewarding. This budget priced CD is an excellent way to get to know the music of Berg, Schoenberg, and Webern.

Robin Friedman