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Arnold Sch​ö​nberg: Five Pieces Op. 16, Chamber Symphonies

by Prague Piano Duo

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1.
Five Pieces, Op. 16 I. Vorgefühle (Sehr Rasch) / Premonitions Two Pianos Version 02:02
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2.
Five Pieces, Op. 16 II. Vergangenes (Mäßige Viertel - Viertel Etwas Langsamer) / The Past Two Pianos Version 04:48
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3.
Five Pieces, Op. 16 III. Farben (Mäßige Viertel) / Chord-Colours Two Pianos Version 02:51
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4.
Five Pieces, Op. 16 IV. Peripetie (Sehr Rasch) / Peripetia Two Pianos Version 02:31
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5.
Five Pieces, Op. 16 V. Das obligate Rezitativ (Bewegte Achtel) / The Obbligato Recitative Two Pianos Version 03:49
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6.
Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 I. Sonata - Allegro / II. Scherzo / III. Durchführung / IV. Adagio / V. Recapitulation - Finale Piano Four Hands Version 23:42
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7.
Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38b I. Adagio Original version for two pianos by the composer 07:04
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8.
Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38b II. Con Fuoco - Molto Adagio - Largo Original version for two pianos by the composer 11:46
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about

Arrangements of orchestral works for piano four hands or two pianos have often been considered minor. This transcription work, intended for a national audience, was generally entrusted to professionals employed by the publishers. However, this is not the case with Schönberg (or Brahms) who took care of them - or carefully supervised them - themselves, in particular to share them with their friends or students. Thus, the transcription of the Five Pieces for Orchestra Op. 16 was made by a student of genius of Schönberg: Anton Webern.

The pieces use in an original and inventive way the most complete orchestral framework of each bar, even if a transcription preserving their essential qualities seemed an impossible task. Yet Webern found a convincing solution avoiding superficial effects and striving to make the chord groups express the sound in almost skeletal terms, bringing the color of these to the surface. These Five Pieces had innovated in the history of music at the turn of the 20th century (and in Schönberg’s own production); this was also the case with the Chamber Symphony Op. 9, dated the same year. Its version for piano four hands, reworked many times, comes from the hand of the composer, who, not completely satisfied with the result, entrusted it to his other student of genius: Alban Berg. “It is not a work like the others, it is a milestone in music, sufficient for a whole generation!”, declared Berg about this symphony whose heart is filled with melodies and overflowing with energy; he will make a superb arrangement that can actually be perfectly played on the piano, rather than a version for study or analysis. Finally, Schönberg has made his own arrangement of his Second Chamber Symphony, which revisits the genre of the First but in a more expansive and romantic idiom, then presenting fewer challenges to the transcriber. In conclusion, these arrangements, far from simple piano reductions, can stand on their own and shed new light on these complex scores, bringing out new details and new sounds.

Awards: 4* by Le Monde de la Musique, 5 by Diapason, 9 by Répertoire, ffff by Télérama

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250119

credits

released November 1, 1998

Prague Piano Duo - Ensemble

Recording dates in Prague : April 8 (Op.16), July 6 (Op.38b), 29 (Op.9) 1998

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