Arnold Schoenberg: Complete Chronological Catalogue

"The most ear-splitting combination of tones that ever desecrated the walls of a Berlin concert hall," complained one critic after attending the premiere of Pierrot Lunaire, which took place 100 years ago today.

Schoenberg is the first composer I chronicled on Spotify. For the past few days I gave this 3-year-old playlist a total overhaul, kept 97 tracks from the previous version and added more than 300 tracks. Besides all works with opus number, now the playlist also includes:

Works without opus number:

Gurre-Lieder (including version for voice and piano).
Moses und Aron (Boulez's recording on DG, plus the unfinished act 3 from Scherchen's recording).
Suite for string orchestra in G major.
Cello Concerto (after Matthias Georg Monn).
Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra (after Handel).
String Quartet in D major.
String Quartet No. 5 (fragment).
Brettl-Lieder (Cabaret Songs).
And over a dozen fragments and early works.

Notable different versions: 1909 version of 5 Pieces for Orchestra; large orchestra version of Chamber Symphony No. 1, etc.

Arrangements of his own works: by the composer (string orchestra version of Verklärte Nacht and String Quartet No.2) and his close associates (Webern's transcription of 5 Pieces for Orchestra for 2 pianos, and his arrangement of the Chamber Symphony No. 1 for violin, flute, clarinet, cello and piano, for it was intended to be played in concerts together with Pierrot Lunaire, which is scored for similar instruments).

Arrangements of other composers' works for orchestra: Brahms's Piano Quartet No.1, Bach's chorale prelude and Prelude and fugue in E-flat major "St Anne", BWV 552. Other than Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, I did not include any arrangements for small ensembles.

At the end of the playlist there's three tracks of interviews and radio broadcasts featuring the composer.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Arnold Schoenberg - Complete Chronological Catalogue (404 tracks, total time: 32 hours). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Op. 1-50 are sorted by number; other works are placed in their approximate chronological positions, according to year of composition.