"Once upon a time in the 20th century…": Korngold / Schönberg-Webern / Berg

The Saturday afternoon concert of the two-day Once Upon a Time in the 20th Century... festival will begin with Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s 1930 suite, one of the most unique works in the chamber music literature: the composer wrote it for two violins, cello and piano left-hand, based on a commission from the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in World War I. The piano part of this Late Romantic, rich-sounding piece is so dense and virtuosic that the listener often might not perceive that the artist is playing with one hand.

The second number will be a transcription of Arnold Schönberg’s First Chamber Symphony, a key work of Modernism dating from 1906. Later on, in 1922–1923, it was arranged for a smaller ensemble – flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano – by his distinguished student Anton Webern.

The concert will conclude with passages from Alban Berg’s epochal opera Wozzeck, premiered in 1925. It was condensed into a chamber piece for piano, string quintet and double bass in 2010 by the Russian composer Alexei Grotz. The vocal parts in the work are handled by the string players.