Work of the Week - Arnold Schoenberg: 6 Little Piano Pieces op 19

Arnold Schoenberg's 6 Little Piano Pieces op 19 (1911) are compositions of extraordinary aphoristic brevity and are particularly characteristic of Schoenberg and his early period of free atonality. Each movement has a specific mood expressing the musical substance in a highly condensed form: 'My music must be short. Lean! In two notes, not built, but "expressed". And the result is, I hope, without stylized and sterilized drawn-out sentiment. That is not how man feels', Schoenberg wrote to Ferruccio Busoni in 1909. Heinz Holliger who also has a penchant for miniature-like, delicate forms in his own compositions has arranged Schoenberg's piano pieces for Ensemble Contrechamps from Geneva. The world premiere is on 7 September in Meinier

 Arnold Schönberg: Profile
Heinz Holliger: Profile
 Additional Information on 6 Little Piano Pieces op 19