Weinachtsmusik
Dec 19th, 2008 by oldfogey
I’ve always thought that if he hadn’t decided to go down the musical cul-de-sac of 12 tone music and atonality, Arnold Schoenberg would have made a good composer. As it is listening to much of his music now is more a duty than a pleasure - which I force myself to do occasionally, as I do to John Coltrane, in the hope of ‘getting the point’ of it and start to enjoy it. Sadly in neither case has this come to pass. Within the first few minutes of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire or Coltrane’s A Love Supreme I’ve picked up a book. Which I suppose is an advance on Miles Davis - in the first few minutes of any recording by him, I’ve dozed off.
Yet when he first started out Schoenberg did compose some music I still want to listen to - Verklarte Nacht and, when I’m in the mood, Gurrelieder - and some of his arrangements. His version of Carl Loewe’s Der Nock for soprano and orchestra enraptures - where can I get a recording of it? Here’s one that never fails to charm - it’s a slight piece, for piano, harmonium and string quartet, but delightful. It is his Christmas Night Music. You can almost see the family around the tree, the Austrian snow falling outside, smell the fire and the Christmas log, Grandad full of warm brandy and beer, the children carried sleepily, and reluctantly, to bed.
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