Composer: Fritz Kreisler, Arnold Schoenberg, Johann Strauss, Anton Webern
Performer: Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Meesun Hong, Julia Gallego, Reto Bieri, Thomas Kaufmann, Joonas Ahonen, Marko Milenkovic
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Alpha
Catalogue: ALPHA722
Release: 2021
Size: 1.19 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Schönberg: Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21
01. I. Mondestrunken
02. II. Colombine
03. III. Der Dandy
04. IV. Eine blasse Wäscherin
05. V. Valse de Chopin
06. VI. Madonna
07. VII. Der kranke Mond
08. VIII. Nacht (Passcaglia)
09. IX. Gebet an Pierrot
10. X. Raub
11. XI. Rote Messe
12. XII. Galgenlied
13. XIII. Enthauptung
14. XIV. Die Kreuze
15. XV. Heimweh
16. XVI. Gemeinheit!
17. XVII. Parodie
18. XVIII. Der Mondfleck
19. XIX. Serenade
20. XX. Heimfahrt (Barcarole)
21. XXI. O alter Duft
22. Strauss: Emperor’s Waltz, Op. 437
23. Schönberg: Phantasy for Violin and Piano, Op. 47
Webern: Four Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 7
24. I. Sehr langsam
25. II. Rasch
26. III. Sehr langsam
27. IV. Bewegt
28. Kreisler: Little Viennese March
Schönberg: Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19
29. I. Leicht, zart
30. II. Langsam
31. III. Sehr Langsam
32. IV. Rasch, aber leicht
33. V. Etwas rasch
34. VI. Sehr langsam
Pierrot lunaire, premiered in Berlin in 1912, is a series of twenty-one short melodramas for voice and five instruments on German translations of poems by Albert Giraud. Here the composer first introduces Sprechgesang (speech-song), a technique that revolutionised declamation. Schoenberg wanted the piece to be ironic, at once tender and grotesque, in the manner of cabaret songs. Patricia Kopatchinskaja, the violinist who is also an occasional actress, had long dreamt of playing and reciting this unique work. It was a pain in her arm preventing her from playing the violin that one day propelled her into the role of narrator: ‘All my life I have felt that I was Pierrot. Every time I played this piece on the violin when I was a student, I would say the words in my head.’ She has now played and performed Pierrot in many venues around the world, including the Berlin Philharmonie, several cities in the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden. Now she has assembled a number of her musician friends and decided to record it for posterity. Schoenberg’s Phantasy op.47 and Six Little Piano Pieces op.19 complete the programme, along with works by Webern ( Four Pieces for violin and piano op.7 ) and Schoenberg’s arrangement of Johann Strauss’s Kaiser-Walzer (Emperor Waltz) op.437.