Schoenberg: Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11 (Pollini)

These wonderful little pieces are works that you (probably) have to learn to love, but which can be loved nonetheless -- and it certainly helps that Pollini plays them with intimacy and expressiveness. Though atonal, these pieces are nonetheless thinly swathed in the last vestiges of classical form and harmony: you can glimpse shades of lyrical melody, chordal accompaniments, ABA structure in the first piece, expressive appoggiaturas, pedal tones, and so on. Formally speaking there's a vast (unimaginably vast) number of things that can be said about these three pieces, standing as they are at the very threshold of full-blooded modern serial atonality, but that's not in fact that helpful if you want to just enjoy listening to these. So instead I suggest several ways of listening to these:

1. Three tableaux: a silent evening in a house soon to be demolished, a funeral, a fire swallowing a factory.
2. Five paintings: Picasso's The Blue Room, Francis Bacon's Head I / Böcklin's Isle of the Dead, Munch's The Scream / Kandinsky's Composition VII
3. Three preludes: a nocturne out of late Liszt, a Brahmsian intermezzo/lament, a piece out of Schumann's Kriesleriana.
4. Three myths: Sisyphus, Dante, Zeus and Leda.
5. Music for films from the black-and-white era. Imagine whatever you choose.

00:00 -- 1. Mässig
03:55 -- 2. Mässig
11:09 -- 3. Bewegt

[johnzielinski]

I'm going to have this tune stuck in my head all day.

[pectenmaximus]

I love these pieces, their 'abstractness' makes them unobtrusive for me. I don't get swept along in a tonal-current, though there's a semblance of order to them that is also absent in many 'atonal' works, which is why I listen to Schoenberg more often than other composers whose works are typically less tonal. It's nice to just hear the relationships between notes, without there being a strong dictation of which relationships are 'good' and which ones are 'bad'.

[hosshoss]

this music demonstrates in some way, that beneath the notes, the rules or tendencies of diatonicism, there is another logic that conveys emotional impact and spiritual caress. In other words, master Schoenberg shows at deeper levels that the mystery of music reveals itself subliminally, appeals to the instinct, intuition, and brings you to where you arrive, in perhaps, let us say, less than obvious ways. Communication

[stueystuey]

first time i heard this music i thought to myself 'oh yeah finally something new' thirty years later i listen in awe. this still reeks of modernity.

[simon-holt]

Some of the most beautiful notes ever written for piano. The way the chords are perfectly weighted and with such delicacy. Never tire of it. Haunting.

[orhantorunn]

The second movement is the most beautiful work I ve ever listened. I suddenly started feeling strong emotions when listening to Schoenberg.

[wadingkiosk]

I feel so weird to stumble upon this while looking for Schoenberg piano pieces, reading the comments, googling Pollini to see what's so good about him and seeing he died 5 hours ago.

[mikesimpson]

I think Schoenberg's style sounds particularly cool on piano. This and his piano suite are the best Schoenberg I've heard.

[Tfrne]

Pollini hits it out of the park. The most beautiful interpretation of these pieces I've ever heard.

[polszik]

0:48 Man, how you can do crescendo-decrescendo on two notes on a piano ? Schonberg was really emotive string player

[Andre-zzpg]

This is so beautiful.
I love all of Schönberg's work

[jorgeaguirre]

Love to hear those enigmatic sounds over and over, and just deliver myself to the enigma.

[livewire]

This is music as language. If you don't understand the language it would sound random. Chinese sounds random to me too. Maybe it's overly intellectual and not "beautiful" for most tastes but it's definitely a piece of art. I myself am not that big on most of Schoenberg's work, but he's a master and should be studied.

[hzk]

Samuel Andreyev sent me here. I stayed because of how beautiful it is.

[seanbutler]

It really took me a moment to get my ear used to what I was hearing; it was really quite jarring at first. The fact that I have perfect pitch makes enjoying atonal music that much more difficult for me, as I find it hard to not hear exact notes, pitches, chords, keys, consonances, etc. But once I was able to let go of those preconceptions and just listen, I mean really listen to what I was was utterly enraptured. Pollini's performance definitely helps to draw you in and keep you there; there is something utterly brilliant in these three pieces. It's not like anything I've heard before, and I'm glad I've finally broken through my initial repulsion and found a way to enjoy it.

[qzbmz]

Hauntingly compelling. Thanks very much for posting such great music.

[pedroa.cantero]

Mi acercamiento a Arnold Schönberg es tardío –gracias a un sueño que tuve tras la muerte de un viejo amigo– como si hasta en ello tuvieran que enhebrarse las mallas del inconsciente. El sueño me revelaría la pieza del puzzle que durante años andaba buscando sin darme cuenta de que bastaba escuchar sin prejuicios para descubrir la singularidad del músico al que yo me resistía. Luz de un astro que me aguardaba silente. Arnold Schönberg es uno de los baluartes de la música occidental. Y lo es tanto por la intensidad de su obra como por la influencia determinante que ella tuvo en las generaciones ulteriores. Su conocimiento musical es incontestable, como lo son su sed de lo absoluto y su callada genialidad. Se podría decir que la música estaba en él, le era congénita, le emanaba . Fuera parte de algunas lecciones de contrapunto con Alexander von Zemlinsky, aprendió escritura musical a través de la lectura de compositores clásicos o practicando violín y violoncelo. Músico de su tiempo, coronó una trayectoria anclada en la tradición y despejó un horizonte hasta entonces insospechable, tramando nuevas vías compositivas, consideradas tan audaces que no se le perdonaría su osadía mientras vivió. «Todo el mundo, o casi todo el mundo, ve en él una figura emblemática del arte del siglo XX. Quiérase o no, se estima que su obra dice algo acerca de la condición del hombre moderno. […] La doxa, incluida la musicológica o historiográfica, ve en Schönberg un revolucionario, es decir, el actor de una ruptura en la historia de la música. Por esa razón, se le cuestionó desde un punto de vista estético, y los regímenes totalitarios lo hicieron objeto de una persecución política. Y, a la inversa, esta misma percepción constituye para los admiradores de las vanguardias artísticas el fundamento de su valor» (E. Buch ).

[riversandstones]

This is extremely beautiful. Who cares it its not completely "atonal"? That "tonal" spice thrown in the mix, makes this even better. Its sad that few people realize this.

[avoidbeing]

"Do you feel that new air? Are you breathing it?"

[urbinamdm]

This is a soundtrack for a movie not yet released... It has suspense, runs, expectations, resolutions... in a compact form...