|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Works for Wind Quartet by Arnold Schönberg's Oldest Son The Austrian Cultural Forum is honoring the first family of composer Arnold Schönberg with a program titled Etwas Altes, Etwas Neues (Something Old, Something New). This program will take place on Tuesday, October 10 at the Austrian Cultural Forum, New York City. It is co-sponsored by The Lark Ascending, a New York-based performance group. Etwas Altes, Etwas Neues will feature the world premiere of Sechs Stücke für Bläzerquartet and the American premiere of Bläzerquartet, both by Georg Schönberg (1906-1974), who was oldest son of Arnold Schönberg and his first wife Mathilde von Zemlinsky, sister of composer Alexander. Georg Schönberg?s instrument was the horn, which he studied at the Vienna Academy, and experts who have examined the music tell us that while it is tonal, it is quite sophisticated and to be numbered among his best works. Georg Schönberg was born in Austria and never left. Branded a Jew by the Nazis after the Anschluss, Georg Schönberg was saved from deportation to Teresienstadt, the way-station to Auschwitz, by a vegetable gardener, whose truck he drove to market. Georg lived on to become a hero of the Austrian Resistance. Our roster of performers in the two works includes includes English hornist George Reuter, a recipient of the Pro Musica International Award, who is a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet and was a founding member of the ensemble An die Musik and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as well as Vadim Lando, clarinet; Karl Kramer, horn; and Martin Kuuksmann, bassoon. Also on the program will be a world premiere of Steven Gerber?s Five Canonic Duos for Oboe and Bassoon, which was specially commissioned from the composer by Richard Duncan, the new music director of The Lark Ascending. Rounding out the program will be a second performance of Twelve-Tone Blues by Nancy Bogen, a Schönberg relation by marriage. Twelve-Tone Blues is an illustrated dramatic monologue about an old Austrian-Jewish twelve-tone composer and his Iowa-born wife, and features veteran actress Viola Harris as narrator, slides based on illustrations by set-designer Salvatore Tagliarino, and doodles on the viola by Louise Schulman. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |