Bernstein on Schoenberg

It could be very easily argued (because it’s true) that the music addressed by this lecture was the inevitable result of the evolutionary trajectory of all of Western music . Nevertheless the compositions of Arnold Schoenberg represent a hugely compelling intellectual/artistic achievement that could only have come from true visionary genius . Learning to hear and appreciate the free atonality 1908-1923 and 12 tone music of Schoenberg can and will allow you to hear all of music with fresh phonological ears .