Approx. running time 1 h 15 min (without intermission)

Conductor: Kaspar Mänd

Soloist: Kristel Pärtna (soprano), Riina Pikani (piano)

Estonian National Opera Orchestra

PROGRAMME

String sextet “Verklärte Nacht”

Kristina Kriit, Dmytro Cherepov (violin), Toomas Nestor, Arne Pilliroog (viola), Andreas Lend, Marius Järvi (cello) 

“Vier Lieder” Op. 2 and “Cabaret Songs”

Kristel Pärtna (soprano), Riina Pikani (piano)

Chamber Symphony No. 1

In 2024, the world celebrates Arnold Schönberg’s 150^th anniversary. Schönberg is one of the main representatives of dodecaphony and one of the most important innovators of 20^th century music.

“Verklärte Nacht” Op. 4 (“Transfigured Night”, 1899), a sexted for string instruments dates from the composer’s early creative period and precedes his atonal works. Its fascinatingly expressive music is inspired by Richard Dehmel’s eponymous psychological love poem, where the five stanzas recount the following story: a man and a woman walk in a moonlit forest; the woman confesses to her fiancé that she is expecting a child from a man she does not love; the man’s consoling forgiveness; love duet; a culminating finale depicting a transfigured night. The piece is performed by a sextet consisting of Kristina Kriit and Dmytro Cherepov (violin), Toomas Nestor and Arne Pilliroog (viola), Andreas Lend and Marius Järvi (cello).

Kristel Pärtna will perform Schönberg’s “Four Songs” Op. 2 (“Vier Lieder”, 1899) and “Cabaret Songs” (“Brettl Lieder”, 1901). “Four Songs” are based on Richard Dehmel’s and Johannes Schlaf’s texts and is influenced by the romanticism of Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner. Richard Dehmel was one of Schönberg’s favourite poets, whose verses also inspired “Verklärte Nacht” and whose writing most precisely captured the essence of the era. “Cabaret Songs” are a collection of eight songs that abound with humour of every shade and well depict the legendary polarities of Viennese society at the beginning of the 20th century.  

The Chamber Symphony No. 1 is a landmark at a distinctly pivotal moment in the history of classical music when composers departed from tradition and turned to atonal music. When Schönberg completed the Chamber Symphony No. 1 in 1906, he told his friends: “Now I have established my style. Now I know how I have to compose.” In this piece there are only 15 players on the stage, but the expressive range and intensity still sounds remarkably like a full orchestra. Even though the symphony is listed as one movement, the form can be considered as subdivided into as many as five continuous movements.