Arnold Schönberg
Five Piano Pieces op. 23
The Five Piano Pieces op. 23 are a transitional work in which Schönberg made the decisive step from free atonal music to composition based on tone rows, which however did not yet necessarily have to contain all twelve chromatic tones. Begun in 1920 as a contribution to a memorial album for Debussy, the cycle was completed – now as an independent work – only in 1923. The most famous piece in it is certainly no. 5, “Waltz”, an ironic playing with genre traditions that at the same time is a swift-moving piece of music! Our editor, Ulrich Krämer, is one of the most distinguished Schönberg scholars, while the fingerings are provided by specialist Shai Wosner. The clear and neatly set score is an ideal basis on which to explore this fascinating piano universe.
About the Authors
Ulrich Krämer (Editor)
Dr. Ulrich Krämer, born in 1961 in Bielefeld, is Head of the Research Centre at the Arnold Schönberg Complete Edition in Berlin. He read musicology and German in Hamburg and Bloomington and wrote his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Rudolf Stephan on Alban Berg as a pupil of Arnold Schönberg.
In addition to his editorial work, he has been a lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” and at the Berlin University of the Arts, as well as “Visiting Scholar” at the Graduate Center at the City University New York. Alongside the volumes he has prepared for the Schönberg Complete Edition (including the score of the Gurre Lieder which was awarded the Deutsche Musikeditionspreis), his scholarly publications include editions of Alban Berg’s student compositions and Theodor W. Adorno’s compositions found in his estate, as well as essays and articles on Brahms, Berg, Schönberg, Ravel and Astor Piazzolla.