Music and Dance Reviews : Swiss Pianist Premieres Schmid Work at USC

Almost six decades after its completion, Swiss conductor/composer Erich Schmid’s “Sechs Stucke fur Klavier,” Opus 6, received a belated but welcome world premiere by compatriot pianist Marianne Schroeder Wednesday night at the Schoenberg Institute at USC. The originally scheduled 1932 premiere in Berlin was cancelled due to the threat of a nearby pro-Hitler rally.

The work stands as an attractive example of early 12-tone writing, clearly modeled after corresponding works of Schoenberg, who was Schmid’s teacher at the time. Lack of contrast, awkward cadences and other problems typical in early atonal music are not always avoided, but the music is crafted with sophistication and substantial bravura, to which Schroeder gave fitting attention.

Notably aggressive in both her physical assault on the instrument and in her cerebral approach to the technical complexity of the scores she favors, Schroeder generally plays impressively, though rarely soothingly. The strong force behind her fingers sacrifices accuracy at times, but adds a touch of brilliance to large-scale atonal works that require patient preparation and virtuosity.

Such a work is Stockhausen’s Klavierstuck VI, a massive, complicated explosion of undulating serial patterns and textures that Schroeder mastered handsomely. Less convincing was her reading of Scelsi’s Sonata No. 2, three movements of quirky tremolos, tone clusters and textures that require a more playful, delicate touch.

U.S. premieres of Wolf Rosenberg’s lyrically atonal “Hommage a Alban Berg” and Argentine composer Bernardo Kuczer’s minimalist octave study “Dualidades” found some moments of interest, but proved routine. Minor pieces by American composers Morton Feldman and John Cage completed the program admirably.