Schoenberg - Piano Concerto (live)

[andhow04]

the third and fourth movements..... got the CD and found it was only 2 mvmts.
anyways a new one should come int he mail soon with all the movements (4 total).


  in the meantime, enjoy the second half of the schoenberg concert - recorded live!



*********************UPDATE!
THE FIRST TWO MOVEMENTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,29491.msg347400.html#msg347400

[andhow04]

Oops.. Oviously I meant "ConcertO".

ALSO: special bonus: can you find the palce where the orchestra and i got off by ONE BEAT?  it lasts for about 8 bars.

[dnephi]

Great job!  I actually had never heard this before and I actually liked it!  His use of color is actually excellent.  He is far more than the empty mathematician as which he is often passed off.

[retrouvailles]

I will check this out later (with score in hand so I can find where you got off, heh). It is nice to see someone playing this repertoire in here!

[andhow04]

Great job!  I actually had never heard this before and I actually liked it!  His use of color is actually excellent.  He is far more than the empty mathematician as which he is often passed off.

oh = wait till u hear the other mvmts.  Its one o' me favorites.
Theres a lot of "heady' stuff in the piece but it is far more than intelelctual exercise.  UNFORTUNATELY< people know (or think they know) more about how he composed than almost any other COMPOSER!  So they make lots of assumptions based on that.  glad yu likied it!

[dnephi]

Was it awkward a lot of the time?  I've heard tell that Schoenberg's music tends to be uncomfortable on the hands.

[andhow04]

Was it awkward a lot of the time?  I've heard tell that Schoenberg's music tends to be uncomfortable on the hands.

it's awkward some of the time.  It rarely fits into a "pianistic" mold, maybe it never deos, but a lot of passages are stll a joy to play.  many passages are NOT a joy to play   And just take lots of careful and consistent work.

[ramseytheii]

BRILLIANT!  How did you learn this?  You sound like a real virtuoso.  unfortunately in the coda, the orchestra is too loud, or the piano doesn't sound in the recording as much as I would like.  Was it from memory (that would be expecting a lot.)
Phrasing, articulation, makes it very coherent and sounds so natural.  Bravo all the way around.

Walter Ramsey

[andhow04]

thnx for the nice comments!  yues i played from memory.  Hope the whole thing will show up soon.
i just learend it very carefully !  I am sure anyone who plays a big romantic concerto can lpay this, if they want to.  i just love his music.  It's too bad i can't be heard in the coda, the piano part goes from eights to triplets against eigths (and very very fast) to sixteenths.  i played all the RIGHT notes!!! - believe me!  Oh well. next time maybe i'll be heard!

[ramseytheii]

Funny this piece should pop up.  More people are playing the Violin Concerto these days, and also people are buying it: it was #1 on the classical charts, if you can believe it.  Maybe a change in the Zeitgeist?

I think often that Schoenberg's reputation needs to be liberated from those that succeeded him (not Webern and Berg, since they both died before Schoenberg), but rather those who pioneered the total serialism, the complete labyrinthine and impossible to understand systems that constitute so much modern music.

A.C. Douglas writes of "the lack of a perceptible and coherent musical narrative from work's beginning to end, which is to say the lack of the work's saying comprehensibly something beyond and exclusive of commentary on its own processes and methods which are — or ought to have been and be — but mere tools used in its making."

Schoenberg to me seems to be the unfortunate bearer of the burden of criticism for those who write music according to process, and music that provides only "commentary on its own processes and methods."  He is often seen as the one responsible for this unpleasant phenomenon.

People seeking to justify his existence (and one wonders why) say things like, "Well, you can find a tone row in Liszt's Faust Symphony," or wherever, meaning only that Liszt used the twelve chromatic pitches in succession without repetition (and in this case, that only happens in one part, it's not even a texture).  I often feel embarassed for colleagues who assert things like that, and think it must be necessary to save Schoenberg from his defenders!

His most enlightening comments are on those of his actual composition process: not the constructing of a row and its permutations, but the rare description he gives of the uncontainable inspiration he received when composing.  I can find the exact quotes if you like, but he describes the rows he devises as integrating so deeply into his thought, that he is no longer aware of them; the results just come organically.  He gives many such revealing comments about the true process of composition, which is to say, the translation of inspiration into product.

This concerto seems to me to be an inspired creation (I've heard the whole thing even though you didn't post it all yet) and has so many layers of polyphony that seem to relate back to the theme.  I think he subtly uses intervals to suggest the opening music, and he really gives those intervals presence and character.  There's a narrative here, and an organic substance that makes musical logic.

Bravo again and thanks for posting this gem.

Walter Ramsey

[andhow04]

wow - what an insite!  I don't even know where to begin.  ui think the way he composed it is pretty neat, and in one passage in the coda the theme appears 3 or 4 times simultaneously and you can't really tell, but it sounds amazing.
I alway try not to get into the political part where people have to defend or attack music - i just play what i like!  or what i love.

still waiting on the whole concerto...

[michel dvorsky]

Your talent and dedication is laudable. Great job!

[mephisto]

Your talent and dedication is laudable. Great job!

I find it hard to belive that you even considers this to be music!

I will listen soon. I love this piece

[andhow04]

Your talent and dedication is laudable. Great job!

thnks so much!  Dedication is the right word!  I LOVE SCHOENBERG!

[andhow04]

I find it hard to belive that you even considers this to be music!

I will listen soon. I love this piece

Thanks... let me know when you listen i'd like to hear any comments!

[mephisto]

Great playing! Although this music is mostly about depressing emotions, you manage to to really show that there is some humour in it

Nice technic, and you make the polyphony easy to hear. And it's amazing that you have learned this concerto!

[andhow04]

Great playing! Although this music is mostly about depressing emotions, you manage to to really show that there is some humour in it

Nice technic, and you make the polyphony easy to hear. And it's amazing that you have learned this concerto!

Thanks so much foryour comments.  But i don't think it's about depressing emotions! There are four movements (I only have 2 on CD so far but recorded the whole thing) and the titles are: "Life was so easy" "Suddenly hatred breaks out" "Grave situation" and "Life goes on."  The two middle movements are darker and more grotesque but the two outer movements are light and beautiful!  so its as nmuch about free livin and lovin life as it is about unhappiness.

Im glad you appreciate the polyphony, a special project of mien!
thanks again

[andhow04]

Finally - received the first two movements!
Tell me what u think!