Considered, mature Schoenberg

Schoenberg: Piano Works

Schoenberg's works for piano conveniently fit on a single disc. It begins with the Brahms-inspired op. 11, three pieces from 1909. The Six Little Pieces op. 19 of 1911 are brief, enigmatic works, short but hardly slight. The sixth piece includes the bells from the funeral of Gustav Mahler, who had died in May of 1911.

Mahler on his death-bed murmured "Who'll take care of Schoenberg now?"

Gustav Mahler supported Arnold Schoenberg in non-material & financial ways. In his will he provided a stipend for him. Schoenberg kept this 1911 photograph of Mahler’s grave until his own death in 1951.

The Five Pieces, op. 23 and the Suite for Piano, op. 25, were written at a pivotal point in the composer's career. They are some of the first works in which Schoenberg put into practice his revolutionary 12 tone system. The first of the op. 23 pieces was dedicated to Debussy, while the op. 25 suite invokes the spirit of Bach.

The programme ends with the two Op. 33 Klavierstücke, dating from 1929 and 1931. Looking back again to Brahms, these two pieces are also forward-looking. And for Schoenberg, the future would not be Nazi-run Germany, but the United States.

Pierre-Laurent Aimard has impeccable avant garde credentials; he was the principal pianist for Pierre Boulez's Ensemble intercontemporain for 18 years. But his repertoire is also firmly grounded in earlier German music: his Well-Tempered Clavier and Art of the Fugue recordings are outstanding, and his Schubert is wonderful. The 69-year-old pianist has put off recording the Schoenberg piano works, and this recording represents the considered, mature view of a very fine musician who knows the composer and his world backwards and forwards. Very highly recommended!

The album cover photo is by Richard Dumas.