Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Schoenberg owes his survival to crime drama

A concert on the South Bank showed why Webern is more revered than his master but also why Schoenberg will always be the more significant figure

Jonathan Berman conducted the London Sinfonietta in some heavy-duty Schoenberg including his Serenade Op. 24. Credit: Monika S. Jakubowska 
issue 26 October 2024

George Gershwin once made a home movie of Arnold Schoenberg grinning in a suit on his tennis court in Beverly Hills but, sadly, never filmed one of their weekly matches. According to one observer, the composer of ‘I Got Rhythm’ played with languid strokes in a ‘nonchalant and chivalrous’ manner against the ‘choppy, over eager’ strokes of the creator of Erwartung.

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