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As the world descended into war, Kate Molleson explores Schoenberg’s breakthrough musical development, one of a number of systems he invented, and his terror of the number thirteen.

Is there a more controversial, infamous figure in 20th-century music than Arnold Schoenberg? Arguably no other 20th-century composer’s ideas have been more influential among composers since; however, his music is still neglected and misunderstood by programmers and audiences. Schoenberg was a revolutionary - one of the founders of musical modernism - but he also recognised the importance of musical tradition. His music defined the times in which he lived, and whether you see Schoenberg as the most important innovator in 20th-century music, or as a heretic who led his followers to an artistic dead end, he was absolutely dedicated to art – both musical and visual. Over the course of this week, Kate Molleson explores the twists and turns of Schoenberg’s life, and tracks the composer’s changing relationship with art through the prism of 5 different visual works, from an image which terrified and obsessed Schoenberg as a child, through the composer’s own paintings, and one of his practical twelve-tone selection dials, to a portrait of Schoenberg painted while he was in exile in America, by his friend and fellow composer George Gershwin.

In Wednesday’s episode, Kate explores Schoenberg’s terror of the number thirteen, and his interest in and development of systems – from intricate variations of chess, to models of transport networks, and methods for notating tennis games. And as the world around him descended into the First World War, we learn about another system - Schoenberg’s great breakthrough musical development – which he claimed would ‘guarantee the supremacy of German music for the next one hundred years.’

De Profundis
Accentus
Laurence Equilbey, conductor

Pierrot Lunaire, Op 21 (Act II excerpt)
Salome Kammer, vocalist
Ensemble Avantgarde
Hans Zender, conductor

Die eiserne Brigade (The Iron Brigade)
London Sinfonietta
David Atherton, conductor

Bach (orch. Schoenberg)
Gott Schopfer, heiliger Geist, BWV 631
Philharmonia Orchestra
Robert Craft, conductor

Suite for piano, Op 25 (2nd mvt, Gavotte & 3rd mvt, Musette)
Glenn Gould, piano

Suite, Op 29 (3rd mvt, Theme and Variations)
Ensemble Intercontemporain
Pierre Boulez, conductor

Begleitungsmusik zu finer Lichtspielszene (Accompaniment Music to a Film Scene), Op 34
Â鶹Éç Symphony Orchestra
Pierre Boulez, conductor

Produced by Sam Phillips for Â鶹Éç Audio Wales & West