Arnold Schenberg: Kammersymphonie op.9 (1906),
arrangement by Anton Webern for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1921/1922).
Arnold Schonberg wrote the Sinfonia da Camera in E Major op. 9 in 1906. We are still, apparently, in the same tonality even if, listening very attently certain hints of “free atonality” are revealed. Schoenberg loved this composition written for ten wind instruments and five string instruments, all soloists. Alban Berg wrote: “This is not a piece like all the others, it is a real mile-stone in the history of music, destined to represent an entire generation”. In “Music Practice and Analysis” Schoenberg said : “The Kammersymphonie is the last work from my first period and is in one movement, without continuance. It recalls the Quartetto n. l, op. 7 that incorporates the four movements of the Sonata and, in some ways, the symphonic poems Verklärte Nachte op. 4 and Pelleas und Melisande op. 5 that, leaving aside the conventional order of succession of the tempi, realize musical intentions analogous to the contrasting effects of independent movements”. Like this Schoenberg abandoned the characteristics of his predecessors, from Bruckner to Mahler and Strauss; favouring abbreviation and openly renouncing repetition, progressions and elaboration, in the search far an ever more concise and functional style. Anton Webern also particularly loved this work and in 1921/1922 rearranged it, perhaps on the occasion of a performance of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, reducing the elements from 15 to 5, trying to maintain the original balance of tone and rendering, maybe, the melodic line even more easily decipherable.

Johann Strauss: Kaiserwalzer Op.437,
arrangement by Arnold Schoenberg for flute, clarinet, piano, two violins, viola and cello (1925)
In 1918 Arnold Schoenberg founded the Association far the private musical performances, “Verein für musikalische Privat-Aufführungen”. Like this works by Mahler, Debussy, Strauss, Busoni, passed through the hands of Schoenberg and his students. More than arrangements, in most cases, this was a simple adaption of orchestral scores, to fit chamber concerts, with the intention of keeping as closely as possible to the original characteristics of the work. In 1921 the Association founded by Schoenberg was closed. In 1925 Schoenberg wrote the arrangement of Johann Strauss’ Kaiserwalzer, for the spanish tour of the Ensemble Pierrot. Perhaps Schoenberg did not know the original score of the Kaiserwalzer that was only published in 1930; he probably worked on the abbreviated version for piano. On this occasion also, Schoenberg defined three focal points; the clarification of the musical text underlining the melody; the balance of timbre so as to make up for the missing instruments; the introduction of new phrases, always in keeping with the spirit of the original work. Therefore we should not be surprised it, from the beginning we hear phrases from the Austrian national anthem that are later repeated several times throughout the Kaiserwalzer. So, thanks to this “clarification” of the Strauss text and Schoenberg's nostalgia for the imperial era, we can hear an evocative piece of great beauty, a precise and brilliant example of the Walzer.

Arnold Schoenberg: Ein Stelldichein (A Rendez-vous),
poem by Richard Dehlmel,for oboe, clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1905).
Schoenberg wrote “Ein Stelldichein” in 1905, leaving the score unfinished. He used a “chamber orchestra” that was later used for Pierrot Lunaire. On the composer's death the piece was finished by Friedrich Cerha. Ein Stelldichein (An appointment), a symphonic poem for chamber orchestra inspired by a poem of the same name by Richard Dehmel, is a vain attempt to offer a follow up to “Verklärte Nacht”. The writing is clear and fixed in tone, a relative testimony to the early work of Schoenberg.

Ferruccio Busoni: Berceuse élégiaque (1920),
arrangement by Arnold Schoenberg for flute, clarinet, piano, harmonium, two violins, viola,cello and doublebass (1920).
Ferruccio Busoni was, above all, a great pianist, an extraordinary reviser, a man of deep and vast culture. Apart from the better known operas, Turandot and Doctor Faustus, and the pieces for pianoforte, he also wrote orchestral music. In 1909 the Berceuse elegiaca op. 42, written in memory of his mother. The piece is of free form and attractive in timbre. Three years later, Arnold Schoenberg noted in his “Berlin Diary: 20th of January 1921 … Well, yesterday evening there was a concert by Freid. Up to then I had never liked Busoni, but yesterday I liked the Berceuse. It is an immediate prose piece. Deeply felt. I have been unjust with Busoni …”.