Die Schönberg Challenge

Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) is considered the most influential composer of the 20th century. Not only because of the twelve-tone method he developed, but also because his compositions and writings touch on central issues of our time: musical, social, and religious. Nevertheless, his music is rarely performed. It is said that his music is difficult to understand. Musicologist, dramaturge, and orchestra manager Christoph Becher wants to remedy this.
Take on the Schoenberg Challenge, Becher calls on his readers, and listen to twelve Schoenberg works with them. Sound samples from an accompanying Spotify playlist, complete with precise time stamps, make it easy to get an overview. From the popular "Verklärte Nacht" to the unfinished magnum opus "Die Jakobsleiter," from the complex First String Quartet to the disturbing "Ein Überlebender aus Warschau," from the bizarre "Pierrot lunaire" to the twelve-tone orchestral variations.
The challenge spans half a century of work, marked by the cities of Vienna and Berlin, bold music and visionary paintings, tangible concert scandals, angry opponents and eloquent supporters, successful teaching, anti-Semitism, and emigration to the United States. Becher puts the composer Schoenberg in the spotlight, but also the teacher, the reader, the seeker. Above all, however, the restless one. For Schoenberg did not fear the process of transformation; he was alert and always on the move. This challenge makes it clear: Schoenberg can be heard—and liked.

"The author completely avoids technical jargon. And instead of the usual musical examples, Becher has included QR codes that link to illuminating audio samples. Using excerpts that are timed down to the second, readers can then examine a particular passage in more detail together. Here, too, Becher's many years of experience as a music educator, including at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, pay off. This 'Schönberg Challenge' is an intriguing invitation to Schönberg." Guido Fischer, Rondo 10/24

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