Schoenberg, Tchaikovsky. Conductor — Philipp Chizhevsky

On June 18, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory hosted a concert by renowned conductor Philipp Chizhevsky and his ensemble Questa Musica. The program featured Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), a magnificent “final chord” of 19th-century German music, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s richly colored Serenade for Strings. Great music that captivates listeners from the very first notes filled the summer evening with tenderness, sensitivity and vibrant joie de vivre.

Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht is an undisputed pinnacle of late German Romanticism and the first major work by the founder of the Second Viennese School. It reflects the clear influence of Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss, while at the same time revealing the distinctive voice and mastery of the young Viennese composer. The tension of its musical language, reflecting the atmosphere of an impending storm at a time of profound historical change, together with its psychological depth and intense emotionality, immediately elevated this turn-of-the-century work to the rank of an outstanding masterpiece of European music.

Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings was written twenty years earlier, yet it also brings together the traditions of different schools and eras. Moreover, through this work, the Russian classic sought to express his admiration for the genius of Mozart, shaping the musical material of the first movement in the style of the great Austrian composer. Thanks to the vividness and precision of their imagery, both Schoenberg’s and Tchaikovsky’s works have repeatedly been featured in outstanding ballet productions by renowned choreographers, from Fokine and Balanchine to Tudor and Eifman.