Pierre-Laurent Aimard was only 19 when Pierre Boulez appointed him to the newly founded Ensemble intercontemporain. He has lived with the music of Arnold Schönberg ever since, and now records the Viennese master’s complete works for solo piano for the French label Alpha Classics.

The programme follows Schönberg from the Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11, his first steps beyond tonality, through the miniature Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19, to the Fünf Klavierstücke, Op. 23, and the Suite, Op. 25, where the twelve-tone method takes shape, and on to the two late pieces, Op. 33a and b.

At the CD presentation in the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna, Aimard plays excerpts and talks about the music with the Center’s director, Ulrike Anton.

alpha classics · 2026
presentation: arnold schönberg center, wien · 11 november 2026