Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Friends: Pierrot Lunaire
The multi-talented violinist turns vocalist in the role of the moonstruck clown at the heart of Schoenberg’s expressionist masterpiece.
Pierrot Lunaire is a work that defies classification. Sometimes it’s described as a cabaret, while The Times called it ‘absurdist dreamscapes’.
Technically, it’s a cycle of 21 songs, written for chamber ensemble and a singer or reciter in ‘sprechgesang’: speech-singing, a style that extends both in directions neither could ever normally explore.
Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire sets 21 poems in German translation from the fantastical 50-poem cycle of the same name by Albert Giraud about Pierrot the clown and his obsession with the moon.
There has been nothing else quite like it, either before or since. Igor Stravinsky referred to the work as the ‘solar plexus… of early 20th-century music’.
With Patricia Kopatchinskaja at the helm, nothing can be predicted – except wide-eyed wonder and first-class musicianship.
Southbank Centre Resident Artist Kopatchinskaja first learned the vocalisations when she was suffering from tendonitis and temporarily could not play the violin.
It proved a resounding success and since 2015 it has been one of her signature works.
Need to know
Please note that there is no interval during this performance.
Reviews
‘[Kopatchinskaja] approaches Schoenberg’s expressionist vocal gymnastics with the same fierce commitment and larger-than-life expressiveness that make her violin playing so extraordinary’ The Strad
‘Pierrot! I am in your head! How strange it is in here – quite different from everyone else. Though you keep silent, your confused thoughts are dangerous – your vocal cords as taut and tense as my violin strings … Longing – that is your sound. Let’s disappear.’Patricia Kopatchinskaja
For your visit
This event is held at the Purcell Room Southbank Centre
The Purcell Room is located in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, which is open from 90 minutes before events start until they finish. It’s closed at all other times.
Plan your visit
The Purcell Room is an auditorium located within our Queen Elizabeth Hall.
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