# How to explore Schoenberg sequentially



## Guest (Dec 5, 2015)

I suppose it's time to give proper consideration to this composer, but I'm interested in taking an organised approach. I'm usually an advocate of just diving in - which I've already done to some extent - but I thought it might be fun for others to suggest the five or six pieces I should listen to that best show a development or evolution. What it is that is developing is entirely up to you.

The only rules are that the thread or theme of the development is made clear; and that choral/vocal work is avoided.

Thank you.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Here's a possible list chronicling his development, though there are so many possibilities:

Romanticism - 2 Gesang Op. 1

Post-Romanticism - Verklarte Nacht Op. 4 or Gurrelieder 

Free Atonal - 3 pieces for piano Op. 11

Also Free Atonal - Pierrot Lunaire Op. 21

Twelve Tone - Wind Quintet Op. 26 or String Quartet #3 Op. 30

Late period - Survivor from Warsaw Op. 46


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Someone has to say it. Shouldn't we explore Schoenberg "serially?"


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

I am a bit curious to know why you're avoiding his vocal music. _Gurrelieder_ was quite an accomplishment, imo.


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## Guest (Dec 5, 2015)

Lukecash12 said:


> I am a bit curious to know why you're avoiding his vocal music. _Gurrelieder_ was quite an accomplishment, imo.


Just because I know that I'm not fond of vocals, that's all. It would be pointless asking for recommendations that risk being all vocal: I would be unlikely to listen to them.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Lukecash12 said:


> I am a bit curious to know why you're avoiding his vocal music. _Gurrelieder_ was quite an accomplishment, imo.


I misread that as "I am bicurious..."


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

If your listening habits overall tend towards Romanticism, a bit like mine:

I´d simply explore the piano works & the_ Piano Concerto_, by some repeated listening. 
IMO, there are traits/small episodes in the sound picture & the musical language easily comparable to either late Romanticism, or less complicated 20th Century Modernism - like Prokofiev for instance.

Then also, of course, _Verklärte Nacht_, in the orchestral version.

Further on, the _Violin Concerto _in a recording with a Big Sound, like the Naxos one.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

MacLeod said:


> Just because I know that I'm not fond of vocals, that's all. It would be pointless asking for recommendations that risk being all vocal: I would be unlikely to listen to them.


That's a shame, as some of Schoenberg's most beautiful early works are songs.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Delicious Manager said:


> That's a shame, as some of Schoenberg's most beautiful early works are songs.


Book of the Hanging Gardens is also a magnificent work.

But anyway, for a tour of Schoenberg's work without vocals (difficult, because so much of his greatest work is choral or vocal):

Early: Verklarte Nacht, String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Chamber Symphonies

Middle: Three Piano Pieces op. 11, Five Pieces for Orchestra, Six Little Pieces for Piano op. 19

Transitional: Serenade (one movement is vocal, but it's a short one at the center), Suite for piano op. 25

Late: String Quartets 3 and 4, Violin Concerto, Piano Concerto, String Trio, Phantasy


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

I'm not fond of vocal works either but Pierrot lunaire is one of my favorite pieces ever. It is an amazing work. Your exploration should not ignore it.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

MacLeod said:


> Just because I know that I'm not fond of vocals, that's all. It would be pointless asking for recommendations that risk being all vocal: I would be unlikely to listen to them.


Thanks for your simple explanation. Lots of times someone says "this is against the rules" and they get cantankerous about it.



Mahlerian said:


> Book of the Hanging Gardens is also a magnificent work.
> 
> But anyway, for a tour of Schoenberg's work without vocals (difficult, because so much of his greatest work is choral or vocal):
> 
> ...


The Serenade here I would highly recommend, it is one piece of his that I must say stands out amongst the others, even for a composer who painted with an exceptionally broad brush. The chamber symphonies are also pieces that one should be excited to try even before the rest. What with all the hubbub there is here about Schoenberg, it is funny to me that these pieces, as well as Gurrelieder and Verklarte Nacht, sound very Romantic.


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## Gouldanian (Nov 19, 2015)

You don't explore Schoenberg's music, you let it come to you.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Well, at the very least, you have to put a CD in the player. The music won't do that itself.


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## Gouldanian (Nov 19, 2015)

May I suggest this GG album which has 90% of what our dear feels just proposed:









Plus GG was a big fan of him... He called him (and R. Strauss) the greatest composers of the 20th century.


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## SeptimalTritone (Jul 7, 2014)

Here is another meaty instrumental work, which, believe it or not, I didn't know existed. It isn't on violadude's or Mahlerian's lists, and it's really really good. Actually, it is _extremely good_. For some reason I (and I suspect some of us on TalkClassical) have overlooked this work.


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2015)

Gouldanian said:


> May I suggest this GG album which has 90% of what our dear feels just proposed:
> 
> View attachment 78565
> 
> ...


But don't forget Gould's Hindemith!


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## Gouldanian (Nov 19, 2015)

nathanb said:


> But don't forget Gould's Hindemith!


Got that one too mate!


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

SeptimalTritone said:


> Here is another meaty instrumental work, which, believe it or not, I didn't know existed. It isn't on violadude's or Mahlerian's lists, and it's really really good. Actually, it is _extremely good_. For some reason I (and I suspect some of us on TalkClassical) have overlooked this work.


Not me. I've enjoyed it for decades, in an interpretation by the London Sinfonietta led by Atherton:


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

SeptimalTritone said:


> Here is another meaty instrumental work, which, believe it or not, I didn't know existed. It isn't on violadude's or Mahlerian's lists, and it's really really good. Actually, it is _extremely good_. For some reason I (and I suspect some of us on TalkClassical) have overlooked this work.


Trust me, Mahlerian has referenced this and Schoenberg's homage to Stravinsky before here at TC. I'm pretty passionate about Schoenberg's stuff, but Mahlerian seems to dig him even more.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Gotta get a copy of that Decca CD. The wind quintet is fantastic! I didn't like the performance on Naxos nearly as much.

The violin concerto performed by Hilary Hahn and the Swedish Radio Symphony is another great recording. I just wish the rest of the CD had more Schoenberg instead of Sibelius. When I'm in the mood for Arnie, I don't want Sibelius filling out the program.


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## Gouldanian (Nov 19, 2015)

This is a good one to have.


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