[Op. 29]. Suite [Full score]

Wien: Universal-Edition [PN U.E. 8685], 1927. Small folio. Full dark green cloth, titling gilt to spine. 2ff. (title, performance notes), 5-111, [1] (blank) pp.

Binding slightly rubbed. Minor browning to edges. First Edition. Rufer (E) pp. 50-51. GA B/23/2, pp. 129.

"In a similar manner to several movements from the earlier piano compositions opp. 23 and 25 as well as the Serenade, op. 24, the Suite is dominated by dance rhythms, with the first two movements in particular recalling the dance music of the 1920s. The unusual scoring with its affinity to the "reeds" section of a swing band - three clarinets, string trio and piano - contributes to this feeling. However, the particular attraction of the Suite originates from the tension in the relationship between its cheerful character and the rigidity of its musical structure. The work is based on a twelve-tone row whose final group of four tones is a transposed retrograde form of the first group of four tones, while two groups of two tones are arranged as a mirror image in the middle group. The hexachords solely consist of semitones and minor thirds; the first hexachord comprises the triads of E flat major and B minor, the second hexachord comprises the triads of C sharp major and A minor. Schönberg also worked other "degrees of relationships" into the row's structure which demonstrates supreme artistry in the handling of a - at the time new - method of composition." © Arnold Schönberg Center.