On September 14, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra started its 32nd season. Its first concert was dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the great modernist composer Arnold Schönberg.
In many cities around the world – especially in Vienna, Berlin, Barcelona, and Los Angeles, where Schönberg lived – concerts and events dedicated to him were taking place last weekend. “Today, when in new compositions dissonance is more of a standard than an exception, both as performers and listeners, we must journey back to old Europe, untouched by the world wars, where hardly any dissonant works existed at all, and imagine the striking contrast Schönberg created with his music,” said Robert Traksmann, one of the concertmasters of the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and one of Estonia’s most highly regarded younger generation violinists, who led the concert.
“It is also symbolic that this week marks the birthday of another groundbreaking and innovative figure very familiar to us – Arvo Pärt. They are like two sides of the same coin – Arnold opened the doors of the world to the twists and turns of twelve-tone technique, while Arvo, having ventured through them, brought us into the bright light of tintinnabulation,” Traksmann continued.
Traksmann described the concert as offering a diverse and unconventional experience, not only musically but also in terms of stage and audience arrangement. The lighting artist Priidu Adlas also contributed to the concert. “The program is designed to lead the audience into an introspective darkness through Schönberg’s dodecaphonic masterpieces, followed by redemption in his breathtakingly beautiful late-Romantic string piece Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night).”
Together with the soloists of the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, on stage that night also were Katariina Maria Kits-Reimal on violin and Rasmus Andreas Raide on piano who performed Schönberg’s Fantasy for Violin with Piano and Five Pieces for Piano.
Robert Traksmann on violin, together with Mart Kuusma on viola and Siluan Hirvoja on cello, performed Schönberg’s String Trio. The legendary Verklärte Nacht was performed by Harry Traksmann and Robert Traksmann on violins, Laur Eensalu and Joosep Ahun on violas Maria Mutso and Leho Karin on cellos, with Andres Kungla on double bass.
Gallery: Tallinn Chamber Orchestra's concert "Schönberg 150" on September 14, 2024, in Tallinn at the House of the Blackheads (photos Rene Jakobson)
