I'm Trying An Experiment Mixing Rachmaninov And Schoenberg For My Classical Music appreciation Class
This Friday , for my classical music program at United Hebrew Geriatric Center in New Rochelle , I'm going to mix two composers where were close contemporaries but whose music is radically different - Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943 ) and Arnold Schoenberg (1874 -1951 ). I'll be playing the controversial Austrian composer 's piano concerto , his only one , and after , the famous piano concerto no 2 of the late Romantic Russian , the second of his four ..
The Rachmaninov concerto has been played to death , but Schoenberg's is understandably not heard so often . It's a 12-tone work , but not at all unpleasant to listen to if you give it a chance . But unfortunately , the Austrian revolutionary's music is extremely difficult to sell to audiences , which tend to want to hear what they know and love .
There's one lady in my audience who loves Rachmaninov ; he's her favorite composer . But she hates most "modern" music , even works which have been around for as long as Schoenberg's , a composer who died nearly 60 years ago . But the other people who come to my Friday program are generally open to whatever I play for them .
I told them about my plan to mix Rachmaninov and Schoenberg last Friday , and I asked the lady who hates modern music not to walk out , which she sometimes does when she doesn't like a piece I play there . She said she'll give it a chance . But at least she'll get to her her beloved Rachmaninov !
I compared the experience to kids being told by their mother to eat their vegetables such as broccoli at dinner before they get a chance to have dessert ! They all laughed at my comparison . I can't wait to see how they react to my experiment !