Schönberg Pierrot lunaire
Arnold Schönberg’s Pierrot lunaire is a milestone in modern musical history. In this innovative, expressionist melodrama, the text is recited in a cross between song and spoken word. This performance is also visually staged by the soloist Anne Pajunen.
About the video
- Recording from November 2014.
- The video is approximately 41 minutes.
- With support from the Friends of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic.
No composer stirs emotions like Arnold Schönberg. A large part of all twentieth century artistic musical productions have been related to Schönberg in one way or another.
In Pierrot lunaire from 1912, one of the most discussed works of the last century, he frees the music from traditional harmonic patterns, yet still without the use of twelve-note composition. Albert Giraud’s poetry compilation Pierrot lunaire, with which Schönberg was deeply fascinated, consists of three groups of seven poems. In the first, Pierrot sings about love, sex and religion; in the second, about violence, crime and blasphemy, and in the third, about his return to Bergamo, where he is plagued by his past.
We hear a moonstruck Pierrot in the Moonlight, musically shaped with complete geniality by Schönberg. This performance also takes on an additional evocative dimension through Anne Pajunen’s visual interpretations.
-
The music
-
Arnold Schönberg Pierrot lunaire op. 21
-
Participants
-
Anne Pajunen vocals
-
Andreas Alin flute/piccolo
-
Mats Allard clarinet/bass clarinet
-
Joakim Wendel violin/viola
-
Daniel Holst cello
-
Stefan Lindgren piano
