On the occasion of Arnold Schoenberg’s 150th birthday (2024), the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko are presenting an edition of five central works that depict all of the composer’s creative phases: “Transfigured Night” op. 4 in the 1943 version for string orchestra, the Chamber Symphony No. 1 op. 9, the Variations for Orchestra op. 31, the Violin Concerto op. 36 with Patricia Kopatchinskaja and the oratorio “Jacob’s Ladder”. Petrenko makes it audible that in Schönberg’s work the twelve-tone technique is also entirely in the service of expression.

“Die Jakobsleiter” features the Rundfunkchor Berlin and the soloists Wolfgang Koch, Daniel Behle, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Gyula Orendt, Stephan Rügamer, Nicola Beller Carbone, Liv Redpath and Jasmin Delfs. Schönberg envisaged spatially distributed main and distant ensembles for the work – this system can be experienced in the Dolby Atmos version on the Blu-ray.

All recordings were made live at the Berlin Philharmonie between 2019 and 2024. The Blu-ray contains the concert videos in Full HD with sound in PCM Stereo and Dolby Atmos. The edition was designed by American artist Peter Halley and includes an 80-page hardcover book with essays by Harvey Sachs and Martin Kaltenecker.

Tracklist:

1. Transfigured Night op. 4 (version for string orchestra, 1943)
2. Chamber Symphony No. 1 in E major op. 9
3. Variations for orchestra op. 31
4. Concerto for violin and orchestra op. 36 – Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin
5. Die Jakobsleiter – Rundfunkchor Berlin, soloists