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Christina Fong

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1/24/2007
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG

I have really been delinquent about my blog entries. There is really no good explanation as to why, other than I have nothing really interesting to say about music.

I recently completed post-production on a recording of 22 yet-to-be-recorded (until now) string works by Arnold Schoenberg and am currently working on 3 Alan Hovhaness concertos. The Schoenberg project is currently in duplication. I loved working on this Schoenberg project in much the same way I loved working on Feldman's complete violin, viola and piano works.



New York Times writer Bernard Holland once likened performing and recording juvenilia pieces by composers as "child abuse." Of course, he is entitled to his own opinion and I will agree there are plenty of composers whose juvenilia pieces are not worth playing, much less recorded. What Mr. Holland fails to understand is that in art there is no such thing as an absolute. For me, an unexpurgated showcase of a genius composer like Schoenberg can be most rewarding for all involved. I challenge Mr. Holland to listen our recording of Schoenberg's 11 Waltzes for String Orchestra with an open ear and review them. In my opinion, everything Schoenberg wrote (all periods and styles) is worth listening to because an imperforate view is often the only way one can discover a true genius, in art.