The output of Arnold Schoenberg, as listeners learn in music appreciation classes, falls into three periods: late Romantic, atonal/12-tone, and a later synoptic phase. Schoenberg, however, never conspicuously endorsed this classification, and he wrote various kinds of music in all phases. Conductor Edward Gardner, leading his by now highly pliable Bergen Symphony Orchestra, draws connections between the two works on this album, which were composed only six years apart. Yes, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 3, is a tonal work, and ...
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The output of Arnold Schoenberg, as listeners learn in music appreciation classes, falls into three periods: late Romantic, atonal/12-tone, and a later synoptic phase. Schoenberg, however, never conspicuously endorsed this classification, and he wrote various kinds of music in all phases. Conductor Edward Gardner, leading his by now highly pliable Bergen Symphony Orchestra, draws connections between the two works on this album, which were composed only six years apart. Yes, Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 3, is a tonal work, and Erwartung is not, but the two scores have much in common. The forest plays a role in both, and both are tales of obsessive love. Each work calls for large orchestras, often broken down into small groups, and Mahler is an influence on the scores. Gardner's Pelleas is restless and quick, emphasizing the work's unsettled psychological quality, and its link to Schoenberg's later music, in a fresh performance that works. Perhaps the biggest highlight here, though, is the performance of...
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