A party I’m sorry I missed
Daily Comfort Zone
From the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna:
Out now – Aaron Wyanski’s interpretation of Schönberg’s Suite for piano op. 25. The piece transforms stylised baroque dances into the musical language of the 20th century using the twelve-tone method. Wyanski takes the next step and transfers the piece into the sphere of 1950s lounge music – without changing a note! Have a listen here.
Fun, but still recognizable!
Great retro album cover. I’ll be interested to see what Mr. Wyanski does next.
Cool and swingin’ !!
This is interesting, and the artist should be commended for it, but one cannot seriously claim that this rearrangement shows the value of Schoenberg’s twelve-tone method. It would essentially sound the same without abiding by any strict compositional mechanism. The appeal of the piece has to do mostly with its instrumentation and its improvisatory character, regardless of which pitches might actually be used. Much of contemporary jazz can often sound like this.
I love Schoenberg, but have never been convinced by his serial method. In my opinion his best work remains the Gurrelieder, an absolute masterpiece written by a genius in his mid-twenties. What came after that is often disappointing musically, except when he still abides by some remnant of tonality, as in the 2nd String Quartet, the 3 Pieces Op. 11, or, one might argue, even Pierrot Lunaire.
The First Chamber Symphony, coming after Gurrelieder and before Pierrot, is a greater work than the others: it’s Beethoven on steroids and structurally as sophisticated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPQU05tfzqQ
Pierrot is still tonal in the sense of classical tonality strongly in the background to make all the deviations expressive: the music sounds like the posyche of someone on the edge of mental disintegration, but in the last song ‘normal’ harmony returns: ‘Ein glückhaft Wünschen macht mich froh nach Freuden die ich lang verachtet…’ Schönberg’s problem in a nutshell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT-O5c5hIAc
Borsty – has it been a while since we have seen you here?
There were access problems here & I couldn’t find the right socket
Sally
Good to have you back.
Now THAT is what I call space age bachelor pad music!
Maybe this treatment would cheer up the ‘orgy’ scene of Moses and Aaron a bit.
This is the working link:
https://aaronwyanski.bandcamp.com/album/schoenberg-suite-op-25
It is rather interesting to listen to, especially on headphones as the L-R separation is remarkably well done. Sounds like the movie soundtrack of a lousy ’50s crime drama.
A blend of Bud Powell and Mel Powell. Wonderful.