Schönberg - rightly or not - went down in history as the composer who broke with classical tonality. To put it very simply, before that, tones were harmonically related to the bass line, like a kind of gravity. Schönberg, however, released that gravity, causing tones to float freely in space. Not that there was no order. However, from that moment on, tones were more related to each other, as motifs
… and harmonies. Even more than a century later, we have to conclude that this is an effort for the listener, although it is going too far to go into that here. In any case, Schönberg fought this revolution in several areas at the time. His earliest atonal works were therefore created around the same time (roughly 1909): the Streichquartett No. 2 op.10, the Klavierstücke op.11, the Orchesterstücke op. 16 and Das Buch der hängende Gärten op.15. The latter work (a song cycle for soprano and piano) is one of the experiments that are relatively easily accessible. Especially when it is sung as slim and clear as by soprano Eva Resch. The other songs of this recital (by contemporaries and partly Schönberg students) sound just as seductively decadent. (HJ)more