Schoenberg: Violin & Piano Concerti Michael Barenboim

• Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951)
• 1 1. Poco Allegro 13:27
• 2 2. Andante grazioso 09:09
• 3 3. Finale. Allegro 13:09
• 4 Andante 04:48
• 5 Molto allegro 02:33
• 6 Adagio 06:49
• 7 Giocoso (moderato) 07:38
• Total Runtime 57:33

Info for Schoenberg: Violin & Piano Concerti

Peral Music—Daniel Barenboim’s digital record label “for the thinking ear”—is proud to release the Vienna Philharmonic’s debut recordings of Arnold Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto and Piano Concerto, featuring the iconic composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, and violinist Michael Barenboim. The new release captures the esteemed Vienna Philharmonic’s first performances of both works.

Dating from 2005 and 2012, these are the Vienna Philharmonic’s first recordings of two of Schoenberg’s works: the Piano Concerto with Daniel Barenboim under Pierre Boulez and the Violin Concerto with Michael Barenboim under the direction of his father.

The Vienna Philharmonic has enjoyed a close bond with Schoenberg’s music, since he himself conducted two performances of his Gurre-Lieder in 1920 and afterwards wrote a personal letter of thanks, expressing his gratitude to the musicians for their work together. Since then there have been more than 100 performances of his works, and the orchestra even played an important part in the foundation of the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna in 1998.

It is all the harder to believe that the Vienna Philharmonic had never previously played either of these two works. For Daniel Barenboim the orchestra’s performances of Schoenberg’s music are full of “tenderness, good-natured informality and naturalness.” Their “playing is very much inspired by the venue.”

This makes it all the more inconceivable that these works by arguably the greatest composer of the 20th century, and a native of Vienna to boot, had been overlooked by the orchestra for so many years.

It was not until 2005 that Pierre Boulez conducted the Vienna Philharmonic’s first performance of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto, when the soloist was Daniel Barenboim. Seven years later Barenboim returned with his son Michael and the two of them gave the first performance of Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto op. 36 with the orchestra. “Highly explosive music,” Michael Barenboim describes Schoenberg’s piece: “Every bar is aflame.” The work’s difficulties are plain. When it received its first performance in 1940, the composer’s daughter, Gertrud Greissle, remarked that “The difficulties are not purely intentional, but they are unavoidable.” Even today the virtuosity of Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto instils a sense of awe in many violinists. For a time Jascha Heifetz regarded the work as unplayable.

But for Barenboim, “Where other orchestras wrestle with the difficulties, the Viennese may do so as well, but they then discover themselves in the music, and this is really wonderful.”

Michael Barenboim, violin
Daniel Barenboim, piano
Wiener Philharmoniker
Pierre Boulez, conductor

Michael Barenboim
lets music, in its diverse and enduring ways, speak for itself through his violin. Born in Paris and brought up in Berlin, with studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock under Axel Wilczok and at L’’Université Paris-Sorbonne in philosophy, Barenboim knows no language or artistic boundaries.

Alongside his commitment to the core repertoire of the classical and romantic periods, Barenboim is deeply invested in contemporary music. His performance of Schönberg’s Violin Concerto with Wiener Philharmoniker deserves a special mention, as he was the soloist in the orchestra’s first performance of the piece. He has also recorded this concerto with the orchestra and his father, Daniel Barenboim, conducting.

Barenboim celebrates a long history of collaboration with the late Pierre Boulez. At the celebrations of Boulez’s 90th birthday in 2015, he performed several of the composer’s works at the Berliner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Dortmund, London’s Barbican Centre, Opéra National de Paris and Salzburger Festspiele. He continues to perform these pieces regularly in his recitals and recently recorded both Anthèmes 1 and 2 for a new recording to be released this season by Accentus.

His 2016/17 season brings him further international debuts, including Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, for the orchestra’’s season opening concert, BBC Philharmonic and Philharmonia orchestras and Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, as well as returns to Komische Oper Berlin, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. While on tour in Asia, he performs in concert with the Shanghai and Guangzhou symphony orchestras and makes his recital debut in Tokyo, at the Musashino Cultural Foundation. With the Boulez Ensemble, he also performs at New York’s Carnegie Hall; in Berlin, for the opening of the Boulez Saal; and at the Wiener Konzerthaus.

Last season’s highlights included a season-long residency with Orchestre symphonique de Bretagne, debuts with Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (under Antonio Pappano), Orquesta Nacional de España (under Juanjo Mena), Auckland Philharmonia and Los Angeles Chamber orchestras, as well as a tour with Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Karl-Heinz Steffens, with whom he often works in concert. Barenboim also made his orchestral debut in Berlin, with Komische Oper Orchestra, and gave several solo recitals in Australia, including at the Sydney Opera House.

Chamber music is an important focus for Barenboim and he is a founding member of the Erlenbusch Quartet and a frequent guest at such festivals as Rheingau Musik, Beethovenfest Bonn, Lucerne, Jerusalem and Verbier. Barenboim performs more regularly this season with his pianist mother Elena Bashkirova and cellist Julian Steckel, appearing together at Munich’s Herkulessaal der Residenz, Brussel’s Palais des Beaux Arts, Paris’ Cité de la Musique and the Lucerne Festival.

Parallel to his solo concert and recital performances, Barenboim also serves as concertmaster with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and cultivates a continuous and strong involvement in educational activities. He regularly coaches chamber music in the newly founded Barenboim-Said Academy and has given masterclasses in Spain, Australia and New Zealand.

This album contains no booklet.