Appreciating Schoenberg

One of the books I bought as research material for my Kandinsky paper is called Schoenberg, Kandinsky, and the Blue Rider, which is actually a catalog from a museum exhibit, but it includes five lengthy essays on the two men, plus a bonus CD that has performances of Schoenberg's music that was played at the 1911 concert that enraptured Kandinsky.

I knew very little of Schoenberg up to this point, but I did know that he had a reputation of having music that was cerebral - that is, if Mozart is pleasant and easy to listen to, Schoenberg is something you need to think about. A lot of his music was, at the time, highly experimental, atonal, and he also dabbled with a 12 note scale rather than the standard 8.

In short, I found his music remarkably likable. It is cerebral, but I quite enjoyed it. When I mentioned this to my wife, she expressed mild surprise but once she thought about it, "but then I forget that you really like [Tangerine Dream and other, mostly German, electronic/synthesiser composers like Klaus Schulze]".

And that's when the penny dropped - Schoenberg definitely fits into that mold in the musical continuum, in terms of cerebral sound.

At least for me.