Take one look at this picture of the Alps. LARGE. Austria. . . known for Wiener schnitzel and mountains. In the footsteps of Schubert, Haydn, and Mozart you would expect the next Viennese school to come in with fire. Well they came with something, but was it fire. Their music doesn't have the raw passion that came with most late romantic compositions. They just decided to start their own system.First off, I would like to say that I am not a specialist in serial music. I have listened to a good amount of it and the concept has been applied to pieces that I have played. To make a solid opinion, I think that I would say that it was important to the 20th Century and steered many composers in the right direction. Now, the next question is: Is it good? For listening, probably not, but for study or expanding your horizons as a musician/person; yes it's good.
First up is the daddy of "atonal" music; Schoenberg. Of these three composers he composed the most and has probably the best output in the genre. His piano concerto is definitely worth a listen. Here take a break and listen to a sample:
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Besides his concerto he also has five pieces from Op. 23 which are definitely recital program material. His suite Op. 25 is in the style of a baroque suite (which kind of makes it Neobaroque), but he stays true to himself in the compositional style.
Alright so his two students were Anton Webern and Alban Berg. These guys only wrote one piece for piano each, but both of those get much play time in concerts. The Berg Sonata Op. 1 is almost Romantic in style and recalls the writing of Brahms. I really like this work and coming in at 10 minutes, it is has much appeal. Webern on the other hand . . . well his variations are a little less audience friendly, but they can work as a performance piece. Just recently I saw them performed and it was slightly engaging. Between the two I would recommend the Berg, it is a better composition for the piano.
So was serialism, in the end, a good thing. It was good UNTIL it got to be too much. Once total serialism came around and composers were fully in control of their music, it fell apart. Music without room to move (room for interpretation) is not fun for performers. The concepts that worked with serialism were taken and added to the arsenal of composers. That is where serialism belongs, as a tool to be used, not as a way to take control of everything. No one wants to wants to be told what to put on their Wiener schnitzel (see below) and the same goes for music.
Alright so his two students were Anton Webern and Alban Berg. These guys only wrote one piece for piano each, but both of those get much play time in concerts. The Berg Sonata Op. 1 is almost Romantic in style and recalls the writing of Brahms. I really like this work and coming in at 10 minutes, it is has much appeal. Webern on the other hand . . . well his variations are a little less audience friendly, but they can work as a performance piece. Just recently I saw them performed and it was slightly engaging. Between the two I would recommend the Berg, it is a better composition for the piano.
So was serialism, in the end, a good thing. It was good UNTIL it got to be too much. Once total serialism came around and composers were fully in control of their music, it fell apart. Music without room to move (room for interpretation) is not fun for performers. The concepts that worked with serialism were taken and added to the arsenal of composers. That is where serialism belongs, as a tool to be used, not as a way to take control of everything. No one wants to wants to be told what to put on their Wiener schnitzel (see below) and the same goes for music.
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