At the beginning of the twentieth century, Arnold Schoenberg began to reject tonal music, developing a new style, which was to change the course of composition. Dispensing with the fundamental concept of harmony and melody, he devised a system using all twelve notes of the octave as the ‘thematic’ basis of each work. In his younger years, however, Schoenberg produced works in the style of the Romantic era, Verklärte Nacht (‘Transfigured Night’) being an explicit picture of the illicit love we find in Wagner’s opera, Tristan und Isolde. Though image-makers have cast Schoenberg as a musical revolutionary, he did return to a form of tonal music in later life, the Chamber Symphony and the Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene proving his mastery of a post-modernism style of composition.
Tracklist
Artist details
Schoenberg, Arnold
Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38
1 I. Adagio 11:07
2 II. Con fuoco, lento 11:59
Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene, Op. 34
3 Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene, Op. 34 08:49
Verklarte Nacht, Op. 4 (arr. for string orchestra)
