5 episodes
| Series | Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Viennese Radical | 20080317 | Donald Macleod assesses Schoenberg's position as an outsider in turn-of-the-century Vienna, with the battle lines between the composer and the critics drawn almost from the beginning. Erwartung (song) Mitsuko Shirai (mezzo-soprano) Hartmut Holl (piano) String Quartet in D (2nd mvt) Arditti String Quartet Verklarte Nacht Donald McInnes (viola) Jonathan Pegis (cello) LaSalle Quartet Des Sommerwindes wilde Jagd (Melodram) (Gurrelieder) Thomas Quasthoff (bass-baritone/sprecher) Runkfunkchor Berlin MDR Rundfunkchor, Leipzig Ernst Senff Chor Berlin Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Simon Rattle (conductor). | ||
| The Expressionist Painter | 20080318 | Donald Macleod explores the effect on Schoenberg of his wife's affair, a personal crisis which he transformed into music as well as paintings, forming an important friendship with the artist Kandinsky. Wenn Ich Heut Nicht Deinen Lieb Beruhre (Das Buch der Hangenden Garten, Op 15) Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano) Iain Burnside (piano) String Quartet No 2 (3rd, 4th mvts) Dawn Upshaw (soprano) Arditti Quartet Three piano pieces, Op 11 Mitsuko Uchida (piano) Five orchestral pieces BBC Symphony Orchestra Pierre Boulez (conductor). | ||
| The Twelve-tone Teacher | 20080319 | Donald Macleod explores Schoenberg's role as an influential teacher and musical innovator. Having crossed the barrier of tonality in his music, he formed a new set of rules to structure his compositions, which was called the twelve-tone system. Es gingen zwei Gespielen gut Simon Joly Singers Robert Craft (conductor) Five piano pieces, Op 23 Maurizio Pollini (piano) Cello concerto after Monn Fred Sherry (cello) Philharmonia Orchestra Variations for Orchestra BBC Symphony Orchestra Pierre Boulez (conductor). | ||
| The Jewish Composer | 20080320 | Donald Macleod looks at the works Schoenberg wrote drawing on his Jewish heritage, which became increasingly important to him as anti-Semitism swelled in Europe. Six Little Piano Pieces, Op 10 No 6 Daniel Barenboim (piano) Dance round the Golden Calf (Erotic Orgy); Scene 4 (Moses und Aaron) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Chorus of Nederlandse Opera Pierre Boulez (conductor) Kol Nidre David Wilson-Johnson (Rabbi-narrator) Simon Joly Chorale Philharmonia Orchestra Robert Craft (conductor) Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra Schoenberg Quartet Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra Roberto Benzi (conductor) A Survivor from Warsaw, Op 46 John Tomlinson (narrator) Chor der Sachsischen Staatsoper Dresden Staatskapelle Dresden Giuseppe Sinopoli (conductor). | ||
| COTW | 05 LAST | The Emigre | 20080321 | Donald Macleod examines Schoenberg's final years, having fled from Berlin to the USA in 1933 with his family. While the composer spent his time in Hollywood, with tennis partners such as Charlie Chaplin and George Gershwin, he remained an outsider, never fully embraced by the American musical establishment. Der Mai tritt ein mit freuden (May Arrives with Joy) Simon Joly Singers Chamber Symphony No 2 Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Berlin John Mauceri (conductor) Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte Schoenberg Quartet Sepp Grotenhuis (piano) Michael Grandage (reciter) Phantasy for violin and piano Ulf Wallin (violin) Roland Pontinen (piano). |