More about the programme:
Modern melodies
Lars-Erik Larsson wrote a revolutionary opus in the 1950s with his 12 concertinos. The Swedish composer, conductor and radio producer was a key figure in 20th-century Scandinavian music. Larsson’s works are among the most popular examples of Swedish classical music. The Swedish composer wrote many pieces for theatre, radio and cinema as well. Larsson’s oeuvre is characterised by great diversity. His works vary in style from Late Romantic to original techniques inspired by the twelve-tone serialism developed by the Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg. Larsson also wrote a number of pieces in a neoclassical style and frequently incorporated elements of Scandinavian folk music in his compositions. After World War II, Larsson was appointed to inspect various amateur orchestras that were eligible for subsidies from the Swedish government. He noted that the repertoires of these ensembles included almost no works that could be considered ‘modern’. To Larsson’s mind, this stemmed not so much from an aversion to modern music as from the limited technical ability of the musicians in the ensembles. In the mid-1950s, this prompted the Swedish composer to write 12 short concertinos – one for each instrument in a classical symphony orchestra – which together made up a single opus. These concertinos, or ‘minor concerti’, combine an interesting and technically-challenging solo part with a relatively simple accompaniment for a string ensemble. Despite its simplicity, this opus is neither plain nor unimaginative, but rather a refined and well-balanced musical work. With these concertinos, Larsson wrote accessible modern music that was within the capabilities of amateur ensembles. The twelve pieces are still regularly performed today. The secret to the enduring popularity of these concertinos lies in their accessible nature, as well as their charming melodies.
Quality over quantity
He was a textbook example of the British middle class. With his interest in cricket, maths and history, Benjamin Britten seemed to be your run-of-the-mill ‘country boy’. The other aspect of his character was his extraordinary musicality, which he developed by taking piano lessons from a very early age. Britten composed some 800 pieces of music while still a child. In 1934, when he was barely 20 years old, he completed his Simple Symphony as an homage to his youth. This work, which Britten dedicated to his viola teacher, is based entirely on motifs he composed as a child. The classical structure of this symphony is in keeping with Britten’s general style. Unlike his contemporaries, Britten rejected the experimental style of the era – a style which, thanks to composers like Schönberg, evolved into atonality. Instead, the British composer strove to follow in the footsteps of Vaughan Williams as a nationally beloved composer. The humorous Simple Symphony is a result of that ambition. Every part of this classical four-movement symphony is based on the same pair of motifs from Britten’s childhood. The first movement, Boisterous Bourrée, is written as a sonata and consists of two contrasting themes: the first is loud and playful, while the second is soothing and lyrical. With its abrupt end, the first movement gives the listener the impression that this symphony will be quite compact: quality over quantity. Then, in the second movement, Playful Pizzicato, Britten has the entire string section play pizzicato presto possibile – as fast as they can. This yields unusual colours, along with the illusion that other instruments, such as a harp or guitar, have joined the ensemble at certain points. With its flowing, lyrical lines, the Sentimental Sarabande presents a strong contrast to the preceding movement. Yet Britten maintains continuity in the piece by bringing the pizzicati from the second movement back for a while. Lastly, the Frolicsome Finale perfectly caps off the symphony, like the cherry on a sundae. The tension slowly builds throughout the movement, until the transition to a more languid tempo seems to herald the end of the symphony. Then, like a thunderbolt from a clear blue sky, the rapid and loud coda brings this not-so-simple Simple Symphony to a close.
Controversial art
‘Zwei Menschen gehn durch kahlen, kalten Hain (two people walk through a bare, cold grove).’ Verklärte Nacht, by the controversial poet Richard Dehmel, begins with this sombre, somewhat ominous sentence. With this divisive poem, on which the Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg based his eponymous composition, Dehmel intended to shock and provoke the respectable citizens of Vienna. In five stanzas, the melancholy poem tells the story of a young couple walking through a grey and shadowy grove of trees. The woman confesses to her lover that she is carrying another man’s child. She is ashamed of her transgression and has brought the relationship with her true love in jeopardy. When, in the last stanza, the lover declares that he will accept the child as his own, the light unexpectedly breaks through and defeats the darkness. The sexual content of the text was already particularly controversial; when paired with Schönberg’s complex harmonies, Verklärte Nacht received quite a mixed reception. The piece consists of one long, continuous movement featuring densely woven lines of melody, with five subtle yet perceptible divisions that correspond to the stanzas of the poem. Schönberg’s composition complements Dehmel’s poem extremely well, not only in its form, but in terms of atmosphere as well. Verklärte Nacht creates the dark and moody ambience that was typical of fin-de-siècle Vienna. Despite the ambivalent reception, the piece quickly – and deservedly – established itself as a milestone on the road to modernity in classical music. Like in Wagner’s later works, the tonality in Verklärte Nacht is ephemeral but has not been dispensed with completely. Schönberg penned Verklärte Nacht during his Late Romantic period. Later, the Austrian composer would become one of the first to make the leap to atonality. The remarkably inventive Schönberg, who was almost entirely self-taught, felt limited by the strictures of tonality and the harmonic system that had been in place for the past 150 years. It is no wonder, then, that his middle period is characterised by free atonality. Atonality is when there is no system governing the music and the composer is entirely free to choose their own tones. In the later period of his career, Schönberg developed his own system: twelve-tone serialism, also known as dodecaphony. Schönberg became a prominent figure in the Viennese musical community, receiving both staunch praise and sharp criticism from eminent musicians. Atonality was never fully embraced by composers and the public. Because Schönberg was unable to make a living writing music, he tried to support himself and his family by teaching music theory and composition. When the Nazis came to power, the composer left Vienna and moved to America. Following a life marked by poor health and financial troubles, Schönberg died in Los Angeles at the age of 77. While his own life may not have been revolutionary, but his music certainly sparked heated debate in the twentieth century.
