TRANSATLANTIC
Arnold Schoenberg – Presto in C
Franz Schubert – Quartetsatz
Schoenberg – Verklärte Nacht, Op. 10
Eldon Rathburn – Schoenberg vs. Gershwin
Erich Zeisl – Songs for Barbara
Ernst Krenek – George Washington Variations, Op. 120
Schoenberg – Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Op. 41
This Vienna/LA double portrait pairs Schoenberg’s delightful Presto in C Major with Schubert’s Quartetsatz in C minor. His debt to Schubert is heard in Transfigured Night. Solo piano works illustrate the composer in LA. Eldon Rathburn’s Schoenberg vs. Gershwin: A Tennis Match portrays close friends and tennis partners. The Canadian film composer won the LA Philharmonic Orchestra Young Artist Award in 1945 for which Schoenberg was a judge. Erich Zeisl’s Pieces for Barbara were composed for his young daughter who married Schoenberg’s son Ronald. Ernst Krenek, who emigrated in 1938, composed the witty and heartfelt George Washington Variations. Set to Lord Byron’s protest of tyranny, Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, composed during WW II, extols Washington.
Lyris Quartet
Luc Kleiner, reciter
David Kaplan, Scott Dunn, and Gloria Cheng, piano