IDAGIO | Arnold Schönberg: Friede auf Erden – Richard Strauss & Gustav Mahler: Transcriptions by Clytus Gottwald 04009350935266

Featuring

Frieder Bernius
Florian Pedarnig
Kammerchor Stuttgart
Arnold Schoenberg
Gustav Mahler
Richard Strauss

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Compositional Technique

The most severe dissonance in Schönberg's "Friede auf Erden" occurs on the line denouncing human brutality, where a condensed motif creates music almost twelve-tone in density.

Interpretation

This recording integrates Mahler's original harp part into Clytus Gottwald's vocal setting of the Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony, and also adds harp to two Strauss transcriptions, to bridge the gap between orchestral and a cappella sound.

Performer Biography

Frieder Bernius, the conductor of the Kammerchor Stuttgart, is known for his distinctive personal style, curiosity for new scores, and questioning of interpretative traditions, leading multiple ensembles.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Clytus Gottwald, whose transcriptions are featured on this album, aimed to make music from the late 19th and early 20th centuries accessible to choirs, addressing a gap where a cappella choral music and art music had diverged.

Compositional Technique

Schönberg's "Friede auf Erden" uses contrasting homophony and polyphony, and consonance and dissonance, to reflect the poem's polarity of harsh reality versus a hope-filled future.

Composition History

Arnold Schönberg completed his a cappella choral work "Friede auf Erden" (Peace on Earth), Op. 13, on March 9, 1907, a few days after the second concert of his own choral ensemble, the Chormusikverein.