Arnold Schönberg - Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op.19

Arnold Schönberg - Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19 Performer: Mitsuko Uchida 00:00 - I. Leicht, zart 01:22 - II. Langsam 02:37 - III. Sehr langsame Viertel 04:00 - IV. Rasch, aber leicht 04:25 - V. Etwas rasch 05:16 - VI. Sehr langsam With their miniature format and extreme aphoristic brevity, these pieces might appear to be a strange and confusing depature from Schönberg’s normal concise formulation, but they are wholly symptomatic of the free-tonal form of his works (and of those of his pupils and successors, who were innovators in their own right) at this time. The natural melodic flow and expansive breadth that would make themselves apparent again in the later dodecaphonic works here yield to an epigrammatic form of expression. This might be described as the antithesis of the symphonies of his contemporary Gustav Mahler and also of Schönberg’s own “Gurre-Lieder,” a monumental work for orchestra, choir and solo voices that was finished at roughly the same time. This first of the op. 19 pieces is exactly seventeen bars long and consists of melodic nuclei that do not come together into a phrase but are heard one after the other, like disjointed thoughts. In the next piece, the rhythmic ostinato of repeated major thirds assures a far greater degree of stability, as though the composer had now underpinned the piano writing with tonality. In the third piece, the right and left hands develop in independent dynamic frameworks, thus forming a contrast with each other, in a very fragmented way. The next two pieces can be perceived as a combination of recitative and aria. Gustav Mahler died in Vienna on 18th May 1911. For Schönberg he had been a mentor and a friend whom Schönberg was even to characterize as a saint. After the burial at Grinzing Cemetery, Schönberg painted a picture depicting the mourners (himself among them) at the composer’s open grave. The colours, however, can only superficially reflect his profound emotion; a few weeks later, in endless grief, he composed the sixth and last piece of op. 19.