Clive Paget recommends a week with the Vienna State Opera, Glyndebourne's Vanessa, and asks who's afraid of Arnold Schoenberg?

A night of music across the spectrum, climaxing on a surprising note with Schoenberg's beast – Verklärkte Nacht.

Weilerstein’s Pentatone debut mixes both head and heart.

Germany’s national rail operator will be playing atonal music at one of its stations in the hope that it will drive away drug users.

Trio Zimmermann make light work of heavy chamber music.

Schoenberg and Abbott shine in works reconfigured for Piano Trio.

Steve Davislim's Tito will also be among the highlights to catch the ears of Aussie audiences.

Rock solid a cappella mastery in a thoughtful programme by Sam Allchurch.

The conductor explains the allure of the German Romantics ahead of his performance with Sydney Chamber Choir.

Skelton's wild hunt puts the summer wind up another fine Gurre-Lieder.

Ensemble Bios is an Italian group led by conductor Andrea Vitello, dedicated to performing works of the 20th and 21st centuries. Their first outing for Italy’s Continuo label features “actress of the voice” Anna Clementi in Schoenberg’s 1912 song cycle Pierrot Lunaire. Broken into three lots of seven (reflecting the composer’s obsession with numerology), it famously utilises Sprechstimme, a semi-spoken technique associated at the time with melodrama and to some extent Lieder and cabaret. Clementi’s delivery is deft, mocking and expressionistic, soaring and plunging while detailing Pierrot’s macabre exploits as the instrumentalists sensitively weave around her vocalisations. A century on, it still sounds thrillingly modern. It’s paired here with a recent work by Florentine composer Andrea Portera (b. 1973), whose symphonic, theatrical and chamber works (over 120) have met with critical acclaim and two silver medals from the President of the Italian Republic. Red Music consists of three quite beautiful pieces for chamber ensemble, all just over four-minutes long, and dedicated to Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Rostropovich respectively. Each work subtly evokes the subject of its dedication – the frenetic dynamism of Prokofiev’s piano works, Shostakovich’s deeply unsettling strings, or… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe…

Faced with what seemed a creative dead end, Arnold Schoenberg discovered a radical new way to compose. Its impact has inspired and infuriated in equal measure.