BBC Music Magazine: outstanding.
This final disc in our trilogy of the chamber music of Schönberg and his disciples is dedicated to works for piano solo. Covering almost all of Schönberg’s output in this genre – including two fragments never previously recorded – the programme also includes Alban Berg’s Sonata No. 1, composed at the age of 23-year under the influence of his teacher’s Chamber Symphony. There is also a rare recording of a fragment by Berg, originally intended for a sonata but later used almost unchanged in his opera Wozzeck. The previous two instalments in this series have received great acclaim. ”An impeccable balance between precision and expressivity” the critic in Le Monde de la musique wrote in reviewing ‘Schönberg – Works for Violin and Piano’ (BIS-CD-1407) and Klassik Heute gave ‘Schönberg/Webern – Chamber Music’ (BIS-CD-1467) top marks: 10/10/10. Eminent pianist Roland Pöntinen participated on both of these discs, and now he closes the trilogy with this solo programme.
