I mention in this week's column that James Dean, who studied piano with Schoenberg's pupil Leonard Rosenman, took an interest in Schoenberg's music. Dean liked to tell a famous anecdote involving Jascha Heifetz and the Violin Concerto. As it happens, Sanford Roth shot a series of photographs of Dean as he was telling the story. Here we seem to see Heifetz complaining that he would need to grow an extra finger to master the work. Schoenberg's legendary reply: “I can wait.”
Larry, Ronny, Nuria, and Arnold Schoenberg, 1948. From the Schoenberg Center.
Tone Poet. The New Yorker, March 18, 2024.
Jürg Frey; String Quartet No. 4; Quatuor Bozzini (Collection QB)
Josquin, Motets and Chansons; Jesse Rodin leading Cut Circle (Musique en Wallonie)
Michael Hersch, Poppea; Ali Young Hong, Steve Davislim, Silke Gäng, Jürg Henneberger conducting the Ensemble SoloVoices and the Ensemble Phoenix Basel (New Focus)
Helvi Leiviskä, Sinfonia brevis, Orchestral Suite No. 2, Symphony No. 2; Dalia Stasevska conducting the Lahti Symphony (BIS)
Joseph Bologne, Three Violin Sonatas, Op. 1b; Andrew McIntosh, Steven Vanhauwaert (Olde Focus)
Messiaen, Turangalîla Symphony; Marc-André Hamelin, Nathalie Forget, Gustavo Gimeno conducting the Toronto Symphony (Harmonia Mundi)
Wagner, Parsifal; Georg Zeppenfeld, Elīna Garanča, Jonas Kaufmann, Ludovic Tézier, Wolfgang Koch, Philippe Jordan conducting the Chorus and Orchestra of the Wiener Staatsoper (Sony)
Arash Yazdani, Propagation of Uncertainty: works 2011-2023; Ensemble for New Music Tallinn, Talvi Hunt, Ensemble du Bout du Monde, Julien Lapeyre, Jean-Marie Paraire, zone expérimentale basel, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Estonian National Symphony (Kairos)
"Where the graves of my love are, it is still."
— "Schattenleben," Jugendlieder
Previously: An Alban Berg Valentine, Another Alban Berg Valentine, Yet Another Alban Berg Valentine, Return of Alban Berg Valentine, Nothing says forever like an Alban Berg Valentine, Alban Berg Valentine (10th anniversary edition), Alban Berg Valentine (2017 edition), Will you be my Alban Berg Valentine?, Eternity, by Alban Berg Valentine, My Bloody Alban Berg Valentine, Saint Alban Berg Valentine's Day Massacre, It wouldn't be Valentine's Day without Alban Berg Valentine, Stay, little Alban Berg Valentine, stay.
Post-Apocalypse Now. The New Yorker, Feb. 5, 2024.