Planet Schoenberg: Perilous Balance

PERILOUS BALANCE
Richard Wagner – Elegy in A flat major
Arnold Schoenberg – Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11
Alban Berg – Piano Sonata, Op. 1
Anton Webern – Five Pieces of String Quartet
Peter Knell – Arkhipov Synthesis

Schoenberg revered Wagner whose piano Elegy introduces Alban Berg and Anton Webern. Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11, considered Schoenberg’s first important piano work and the root of atonality, precedes Berg’s Piano Sonata Op. 1, a single movement ripe with Wagnerian chromaticism. Lyris Quartet performs Webern’s edgy Five Pieces of String Quartet. Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble gives the world premiere of Peter Knell’s Arkhipov Synthesis, based on his opera-in-progress that often utilizes Schoenberg’s twelve-tone technique. The program is part of the California Festival: A Celebration of New Music, a collaboration among more than 90 music institutions from across California showcasing forward-looking voices from around the world in performances of new works written within the past five years.

Artists:
Inna Faliks, piano
Lyris Quartet
Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble
Daniel Bloom, conductor