Pierrot Lunaire by Schoenberg part 1

Pierrot Lunaire by Schoenberg part 1

Frieda Chan, flute
Na Young Baek, cello
Yae Yeon Paik, voice
Che Yen Chen, viola
Mark Levine, violin
Kyra Krynitzsky, clarinet
Tuyen Tonnu, piano

Category:

Music

Tags:

• classical
• schoenberg
• pierrot
• lunaire
• frieda
• chan
• flute

[cmajchord]

"Stand up and take your dissonance like a man!" -Charles Ives.

Great performance. All the performers seem to understand the piece very well and use a wide range of tone colors. Each part is very clear and seems perfectly balanced. The soprano's voice has enough warmth to balance all the metallic, cold references that Schoenberg uses in the orchestration.

Please be aware that this is NOT modern, or contemporary music. It's from 1912! And one of the most influential works of the 20th century.

[nkip9230]

I Love Pierrot Lunaire- Does anyone else know of any other pieces that are completely atonal?

[metabog]

Great.

[cmajchord]

@wks1978 That's kind of the point here... Schoenberg was trying to "emancipate" dissonance. In essence trying to free us from the expectation that dissonance must be followed by consonance. It is an effort to shift the expressive focus onto other aspects of the composition, such as counterpoint and motivic development. In a way it is a lot like visual art of the time not trying to "look" like a picture, but to get to the heart of what those paitings actually convey. Expressionism!

[urmenior]

This is anarchist music.

[MATTDUNCAN1]

well done :))

[CosmicAlfonzo]

I see a lot of comments about the 12-Tone method on here. Hate to break some balls, but this isn't a 12-Tone piece.

[TheCheerPerson12345]

this creeps me out

[wks1978]

@cmajchord I think the right to use dissonance has to be earned..without consonant intervals to contrast against the permanent use of dissonance loses its point, as well as sounds unsettling.

[ericsxp]

@Danicastil5 12 tone is not free atonal, it's a method Schoenberg devised to give direction to his atonal work. In free atonal, the only objective is to not accentuate a tonality by using any means necessary. His method gives him guidelines within which to work, whereas this is the function of Harmony in tonal music. He saw the inherent flaws of free atonality (no direction) and then devised his system which he believed was just a natural progression of musical evolution.

[FABCASTLE]

@nkip9230 If you like this, you'll love Olivier Messien's Trois Petis Liturgies. I first knew Messien and then this Schoenberg's piece. Search on it, you won't regret!!!

[papoocanada]

Listening with absolute attention and concentration but I find myself roaring with laughter.