Schoenberg

Schoenberg’s “Transfigured Night”: At the Tonal Precipice

by

Famously, in the early years of the twentieth century, Arnold Schoenberg plunged over the precipice into the world of atonality. A natural outgrowth of late Romantic chromaticism, the new music gave equality to all twelve notes of the chromatic scale, and abolished the kind of hierarchy that allowed for a tonal center of gravity. Schoenberg adapted the system of Serialism to manipulate the resulting twelve tone rows. Standing at the tonal precipice, …

Read more

Schoenberg’s “Weihnachtsmusik” (“Christmas Music”): A Chamber Fantasia

by

As dean of the Second Viennese School, Arnold Schoenberg was one of the twentieth century’s greatest exponents of atonal music. Yet, Schoenberg resisted dogma. Long after developing his twelve-tone system, he asserted that “there is still much good music to be written in C major.” Weihnachtsmusik (“Christmas Music”) is one of the rare pieces in which Schoenberg embraces the tonal consonance of C major. Composed in 1921, the brief fantasia is scored for …

Read more

The Hollywood String Quartet: Five Classic Recordings

by

The Hollywood String Quartet, formed in 1939 and active until 1961, is regarded as the first American-born chamber music group to rise to international prominence. Their fame was due, in large part, to their numerous and exceptional recordings. The members were all studio musicians who created the lush, glowing soundtracks of Hollywood’s “golden age.” First violinist Felix Slatkin, concertmaster of the 20th Century Fox Orchestra, and his wife Eleanor Aller, principal cellist …

Read more