Chamber Symphony No. 1

'Here the fourths, springing from an entirely different expressive urge, shape themselves into a defi nite horn theme, spread themselves out architectonically over the whole piece, and place their stamp on everything that happens. Thus it turns out that they do not appear here merely as melody or as a purely impressionistic chord effect; their character permeates the total harmonic structure, and they are chords like all others.' (Arnold Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony, 1911)

The Chamber Symphony Op.9 heralded a breakthrough in Schoenberg's compositional style. While the work did not go hand in hand with the complete destruction of the old tonal system it does show an extension in chordal and melodic constructions. It's focus on the interval of the fourth rather than the third is stated right at the start with the horn fanfare and this leads into the use of the whole tone scale soon after. These two elements open up a new sound space which he would explore further in the works to follow. Certainly not a work to be missing from any library where contemporary music is one of the main focuses.

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