Schoenberg / Webern / Berg - Waltz Arrangements, The - Linos Ensemble
"Once again, Schönberg has a great idea in mind: [...] the foundation of an association for the weekly rehearsal to its members of music 'from Mahler to our days'". (Alban Berg in a letter to his wife Helene on July 1st, 1918) After the success of ten public rehearsals by Arnold Schönberg of the Kammersymphonie in Vienna, this new concept was installed at the Wiener Schule. The association was not only a hoard of musical novelties, but was also renowned for its unconventional structure: the program was kept secret ("in order to achieve a constant number of visitors"), repetition of works, a non-public character of the concerts, prohibition of applause and disapproval "to give the artists and the audience a genuine and accurate oversight of modern music". The work should speak for itself: unpretentitious, performed with much care by the so-called "rehearsing masters". The understanding of music was the one and only aim to be reached. A legendary event was the "extraordinary soiree" on May, 27, 1921: four waltzers by Johann Strauß arranged by Anton Webern, Alban Berg and Arnold Schönberg. After the concert, in which the composers also acted as interpreters, (Berg: harmonium, Schönberg: first violin, Webern: violoncello), the manuscripts were auctioned to raise money for further concerts. The evening was a great success, not only because of the stilistic antipodes Strauß/Wiener Schule triad, but also thanks to the witty speech that was given by Schönberg.