Bachtrack top ten: Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg in his apartment, Liechtensteinstrasse 68/70, Vienna, 1907

Arnold Schoenberg at the Funkstunde A G, Berlin in 1926

Arnold Schoenberg playing tennis in Monte-Carlo, 1928

Patricia Kopatchinskaja in Pierrot lunaire

By Mark Pullinger, 13 September 2024

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“the emancipation of the dissonance”

Danny Riley, 2nd October

A look at some major composers who did not receive any formal musical training and followed their own non-traditional paths into Western classical music.

Years of pilgrimage: Byron’s musical afterlives

Roy Westbrook, 22nd January

Lord Byron’s influence on musicians was immense – with Rossini, Verdi, Berlioz, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and Schoenberg among the many composers to create works inspired by his writings.

Bachtrack top ten: Carl Maria von Weber

Mark Pullinger, 5th June

Although his reputation rests principally on Der Freischütz, (Berlioz was a fan), Carl Maria von Weber was an outstanding composer, writing some of the greatest works in the clarinet repertoire.

Bachtrack top ten: Robert Schumann

Mark Pullinger, 1st June

Robert Schumann’s music is intensely personal. Unlike the architectural grandeur of Beethoven or the theatrical brilliance of Franz Liszt, Schumann specialised in emotional intimacy and nuance.

Bachtrack top ten: Shakespeare in music

Mark Pullinger, 23rd April

If music be the food of love... the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon has inspired composers for centuries. Enjoy our top ten playlist featuring works from Felix Mendelssohn to Thomas Adès.

Bachtrack top ten: Frédéric Chopin

Mark Pullinger, 1st March

Ten works revealing the paradox of Chopin: a composer outwardly delicate, inwardly steely; rooted in Polish dance rhythms, yet formed in Parisian sophistication.

Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.