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Schönberg Ensemble

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Schönberg Ensemble was a Dutch ensemble for contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1974 by students and former students of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and existed until 2009. The conductor was Reinbert de Leeuw. The ensemble was named after Arnold Schönberg, and its first repertoire consisted accordingly only of chamber music by the composers of the Second Viennese School. Later it expanded to cover the whole of the twentieth century and the twenty-first.

Music and breakthrough

The regular line-up consisted of mostly single-desk woodwinds, brass, piano, percussion, harp and strings. The combinations varied for each programme, because contemporary music often calls for unusual line-ups. If a larger ensemble was needed, it played together with the Asko Ensemble. Many Dutch and foreign composers wrote pieces especially for the group. It played in the Concertgebouw and other Dutch halls and toured almost all of Europe, but also Canada, the United States, India and Japan.

Influence

The ensemble made many recordings. The breadth shows in the list: Verklärte Nacht and Pierrot lunaire by Schönberg, De Staat, Des canyons aux étoiles... by Messiaen, choral works and the project The Ligeti Project. In 2008 it merged with the Asko Ensemble to form Asko|Schönberg, under the direction of Reinbert de Leeuw. Later the group changed its name to Het Muziek. The Schönberg Ensemble shows how the Netherlands won a place of its own in modern classical music in the late twentieth century.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Pierrot lunaire by Schönberg in this ensemble's performance. Notice the small, constantly changing line-up and the way the voice shifts between singing and speaking.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists