Variations for Orchestra

In the Variations for Orchestra, Schoenberg developed his newly evolved 12-note method of composing to a level of exceptional mastery and technical finesse. Completed in 1928, the work was premiered that year by a leading orchestra and a master conductor of the time, the Berlin Philharmonic and Wilhelm Furtwängler. Although the 12-note method was then considered the essence of musical modernism, the idiom of Variations is remarkably benign for Schoenberg. Much of the music has a transparent, almost liquid elegance, as if a symphony orchestra has been transformed into a chamber group of woodwind and string soloists. The single-movement design consists of an introduction, the main theme (lyrically introduced by the cellos), nine variations based on this, and a more extended finale. Some of the variations, such as No. 8, revert to Schoenberg’s flaringly intense manner; others have the sophisticated poise of No. 4, a waltz alluding to the much-loved dance form of Schoenberg’s native city of Vienna.