Alban Berg

Wikipedia (1885-1935) [Austrian. Modern.]
If you're just gonna listen to one: Piano Sonata

If you like modern music, you'll love this guy...

Background

Alban Berg studied composition under Arnold Schoenberg, and the two of them (with Anton Webern) comprised the Second Viennese School. What does that mean? Schoenberg was developing new ways of thinking about music -- sounds which were a distinct departure from the Romantic tradition of the time. The twelve-tone technique these three composers used created what sounds like modern music to most of us.

Before meeting Schoenberg, Berg was mostly a self-taught composer. By the time he started publishing his works, he had considerable experience. His Opus 1 (the piano sonata listed above) is significantly more sophisticated than most works with opus number 1.

Violin Concerto

Berg's Violin Concerto combines the twelve-note system with standard tonality, and has become part of the violin concerto repertoire. The piece is dedicated to "the memory of an angel" - a daughter of friends who had died. The piece is expressive and moving (like Romantic music), but also modern.

- Violin Concerto (Anne-Sophie Mutter)
- Violin Concerto (Ivry Gitlis)

Chamber

A String Quartet (samples: mov. 1 | mov. 2) by Berg is frequently performed, and Berg scholars have found in it (and in his Violin Concerto) "cryptological and numerological" references to his mistress. Berg was apparently obsessed with codes and numbers, and found ways to hide references to the under-the-radar parts of his life (including a child he had with a servant of the Berg household when he was young) in the music he composed. Berg's Lyric Suite is another chamber piece that is performed regularly.

Songs

Berg's Seven Early Songs are beautiful:

- Im Zimmer
- Traumgekrönt
- Sommertage

Opera

Berg wrote two operas: Wozzeck and Lulu. Wozzeck is intense ("the inevitability of hardship and exploitation for the poor"); Lulu is the story of a woman whose life proceeds from rich widow to prostitute.