The Stern/Andrist Duo Plays Berg: UMD Wind Orchestra

Alban Berg composed his Concerto for Violin, Piano and 13 Wind Instruments as a belated 50th-birthday gift for his mentor, Arnold Schoenberg. Inscribed at the top were the words “Aller Guten Dinge sind Drei,” or, “All good things come in threes.” This refers to a number of compositional decisions, including the number of movements and the number of performing units, but also to the trio of friends whose names are used to create the theme of the first movement: Schoenberg, Webern and Berg.

At its essence, Berg’s composition is testament to friendship, and is rich with musical and programmatic meaning that reflects the compositional world of 1920s Vienna. So much so that, in an open letter to Schoenberg, Berg wrote, “I can tell you, dearest friend, that if it were known how much friendship, love and a world of human and spiritual references I have smuggled into these three movements, the adherents of program music—should there be any left—would go mad with joy.”

The UMD Wind Orchestra is joined by Professor of Violin James Stern and Audrey Andrist, piano, for a performance of this touching piece, along with the consortium premiere performance of Arturo Márquez’s Sinfonía Nómada.