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Patricia Kopatchinskaja
(Alpha)
The outstanding violinist takes the reciter role in Schoenbergâs modernist classic, with results that donât always convince
A regular party piece . Patricia Kopatchinskaja
A regular party piece . Patricia Kopatchinskaja
Thu 15 Apr 2021 13.02 EDT
Pierrot Lunaire is one of Schoenbergâs most enduring and influential works, one of the pinnacles of modernism and musical expressionism. These 21 settings for reciter and ensemble of hallucinatory poems by Albert Giraud were commissioned in 1912 by a Viennese actor, Albertine Zehme, but though Schoenbergâs score does not define the gender of the protagonist â it simply specifies âreciterâ â the cycle is generally performed nowadays by female singers. Yet one of the most successful recordings of Pierrot features a German actor, Barbara Sukowa, and now we have a version in which a violinist, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, takes the solo part.