What city is famous for its residents buying the scores of new musical works like fresh newspapers because they could read music on sight? What city can boast a shining constellation of such names as Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Bruckner, Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg?
It is, naturally, Vienna, the capital of European music. It is small wonder, therefore, that a city that literally sparkles with music is a place where two composition schools emerged, both of them being worthy of the most meticulous attention. The first one, known as classical Viennese school, reached its prime at the turn of the 19th century. The Viennese classics means harmony, clarity, and purity of emotional pictures, which resembles the singing of Danube waves, — in a word, it is music at its most beautiful.
In the unusual city of Vienna, there is something that reminds you of a great composer on almost every street. Here is the building, where Haydn composed the oratorio Creation. And here stands Figaro House, where Mozart spent the happiest days of his life. There still are some buildings, where Beethoven lived, and the ones in which Schubert was born and died.
Yes, the First Viennese School still remains endlessly precious to Vienna and the entire world. But, what was an equally significant and exciting phenomenon was the mysterious and brilliant Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951). Riotous by nature, Schoenberg founded what is known as New Viennese School. Maybe, it should be categorized, like all the past century, as classics, but it is not easy for an “ordinary” listener to go down the expressive musical trails blazed by the father of atonal music and a 12-tone system of composition, also known as dodecaphony or serial technique. Incidentally, Schoenberg and his followers Berg and Webern claimed a link with traditions of the classical Viennese school — hence the name. The principles of the New Viennese School made a great impression on 20th-century musical art.
Such brilliant pages in the history of music are in the focus of a new series of philharmonic concerts, Musical Culture of Europe, in which the string quartet Post Scriptum (Sonia Suldina – 1st violin, Viktor Ivanov – 2nd violin, Orest Krysa – viola, and Dmytro Hlushchenko – violoncello) always takes part. The Ukrainian House of the Actor hosted the other day “The Viennese School from Haydn to Schoenberg,” a soiree that was extremely rich in content. Incidentally, it is at the prime of the First Viennese School that classical types of chamber ensembles, including string quartets, were established.
Post Scriptum played to the audience three string quartets by the Viennese classics Josef Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert. Talent and sensitivity allowed the musicians to put the phenomenal grandeur of the music across to the audience: in other words, they delivered a flawless performance. Their final number was the 2nd String Quartet by Arnold Schoenberg, referred to as his most revolutionary early work. In the third and the fourth parts, the composer added the voice, soprano, setting the works of the German and Austrian poet Stefan George (1868 – 1933) to music. The oeuvre assumes a mysterious meaning when the poet beseeches to be rid of deep sadness and insists: “Take my love and give me happiness!”
An incredible silence, in which the number was being performed, convincingly proved that Schoenberg’s music is still topical and much in demand. In striking harmony with the musicians, the well-known operatic singer Tamara Khodakova, soloist at the Kyiv Municipal Theater of Opera and Ballet, a winner of international contests, sang her soprano part. Her superb voice literally conquered the house, and the musicians played their parts in an impetuous ardor.
On November 30, the National Philharmonic of Ukraine will host the fourth concert of the Musical Culture of Europe series dedicated to Valentyn Sylvestrov that will involve Sonia Suldina (violin), Oleh Bezborodko (piano), Inna Halatenko (soprano), Dmytro Tavanets (piano), and the string quartet Post Scriptum.
