Ensemble 360 and Claire Booth (soprano)
2024 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of Western music’s most innovative and influential composers, Arnold Schoenberg. His melodrama ‘Pierrot Lunaire’, in which the soprano delivers Giraud’s poems in a half-singing, half-talking Sprechstimme style, caused controversy at its 1912 premiere but is now regarded as a 20th century classic. For all his ground-breaking and shocking innovations, Schoenberg considered his music to be a continuation of the great Viennese tradition, as detailed in his well-known 1947 essay, Brahms the Progressive. The programmes below explore Pierrot Lunaire in the context of this musical heritage (including the ultra-Romanic trio by Schoenberg’s brother-in-law, Zemlinsky), as well as embracing Helen Grime’s 2010 take on the pantomime character Pierrot, in seven fascinating miniatures. Ensemble 360 is thrilled to be exploring Pierrot Lunaire with renowned interpreter, soprano Claire Booth (IMG Artists).
Image: Schönberg composing in his study, Los Angeles, 1940, credit Arnold Schönberg Center, Wien
| Helen Grime – Seven Pierrot Miniatures |
| Johannes Brahms – Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano in A minor, op. 114 |
| Arnold Schönberg – Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 |
| OR |
| Ludwig van Beethoven – Variations in G Major on Wenzel Muller’s Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu, op. 121a |
| Alexander von Zemlinksy – Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano in D Minor, op. 3 |
| Arnold Schönberg – Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 |
| OR |
| Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Trio in G major, op. 1, no. 2 |
| Johannes Brahms – Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano in A minor, op. 114 |
| Arnold Schönberg – Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 |