Anton Webern (1883-1945)

[Balthazar]

On this day in 1945, Anton Webern was accidentally shot and killed by an American soldier outside Salzburg. Which makes him like the Tupac of classical music.

[Despina41]

Sad times.

[Balthazar]

In his atonal expressionist period, Webern made some exciting, unpredictable music. Do the folks here think the Five Movements op. 5 are better in the string quartet or string orchestra version?

[Despina41]

I prefer the quartet version. I often find, ironically, that you can be more expressive with four individuals than with larger groups. I can hear the details more clearly.

[Kubalivre]

Allow me to steal that line, Balthazar!

[Balthazar]

It's all yours.

[Mambo]

Like the string orchestra version better of Op. 5.

It is probably one of the top, if not No. 1 rank of his favorite pieces.
Only thing with Webern that he seems to be too brief in his musical
statements. One time I recorded the beginning of Op. 5 , 12 times, before playing the rest of it - since it is that good, but too short.

Webern could have done a lot more development and exposition of his themes.
His Op. 6, Six Pieces for Orchestra, starts out great, and even has some complexity of Sessions in the orchestration. But then he only
has small parts of the orchestra used later.
Could be the difference between what you expect to hear, and what you actually get, when getting familiar with a new piece.