Variations on a Theme by Arnold Schoenberg

Variations on a Theme of Arnold Schoenberg was written for and dedicated to the pianist Leonard Stein, a student of Schoenberg, and premiered by him in 1996 in the Piano Spheres concert series in Los Angeles. It is based on the last piece of Schoenberg’s Sechs Kleine Klavierstűcke, Op. 19, written in memory of Gustav Mahler, and evoking the bells ringing out from all the churches of Vienna. The work opens with Schoenberg’s entire short piece except the last bar. This truncated piece becomes the basis of eight variations, at first continuing the mysterious atmosphere of the theme, only to be interrupted by a loud, agitated variation, followed by a melodic one. Four fast, virtuosic variations lead to a big climax and a pause. The original theme returns exactly, except it is now heard upside down: where before, a high chord was followed by a low one; now a low chord is followed by a high one. A slow, quiet, triadic chorale follows, then a mysterious transition breaking free of the phrasing of the theme. Fanfares lead to a grand climax forming a huge cluster of sound that gradually fades away into the return of Schoenberg’s original theme. For the first time, the theme continues to its end and finally fades into silence.

Commissioned by Leonard Stein for Piano Spheres