Schoenberg: Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11 ( Pollini)

These wonderful little pieces are works that you (probably) have to learn to love, but which can be loved nonetheless and it certainly helps wonderful little pieces are works that you (probably) have to learn to love, but which can be loved nonetheless and it certainly helps that Pollini plays them with intimacy and expressiveness. Though atonal, these pieces are nonetheless thinly swathed in the last vestiges of classical form and harmony: you can glimpse shades of lyrical melody, chordal accompaniments, ABA structure in the first piece, expressive appoggiaturas, pedal tones, and so on. Formally speaking there s a vast (unimaginably vast) number of things that can be said about these three pieces, standing as they are at the very threshold of fullblooded modern serial atonality, but that s not in fact that helpful if you want to just enjoy listening to these. So instead I suggest several ways of listening to these: 1. Three tableaux: a silent evening in a house soon to be