In 1906 Arnold Schönberg wrote his pioneering Chamber Symphony no. 1, a cornerstone of modern music, which continues to inspire composers to this very day.

The instrumentation of ten winds and five strings – a pocket-sized symphony orchestra – laid the foundation for an ensemble culture that later was to come into full bloom. In 1992 John Adams was inspired by this work to compose his Chamber Symphony, in which he combines a chromatic sound idiom with cartoonish film music. The young composer Jan-Peter de Graaff has written a new work specially for this concert. Unlike Schönberg he focuses on melodic and rhythmic development. Gustav Mahler’s wallowing, romantic Piano Quartet illustrates the decadent Viennese fin-de-siècle which Schönberg took leave of with his Chamber Symphony.

Artists

ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG
Kammersymphonie no 1
JOHN ADAMS
Chamber Symphony 
JAN-PETER DE GRAAFF 
Rimpelingen (world première, commissioned by Asko|Schönberg and Gaudeamus)
GUSTAV MAHLER 
Piano Quartet

ASKO|SCHÖNBERG
conductor Etienne Siebens
cello Hans Woudenberg