Page 299 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024

Albertine Zehme & ensemble after th premiere of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire in 1912

As a result of her two recording projects, Claire got to know Randol
Schoenberg (the composer's grandson) a little, and she was intrigued at how
keen the Schoenberg estate was. In December, she is going to Vienna to
perform Schoenberg's lieder and will be staying in Schoenberg's house. Also
coming up are further performances of Pierrot Lunaire with Ensemble 360.
She feels very fortunate to have the opportunities as if she is embarking on a
one-woman campaign. And later this year, she is also doing the Second String
Quartet.

As a young singer, Claire studied Pierrot Lunaire with soprano Jane Manning
on a Britten Pears course. Manning had an incredibly accurate sense of pitch
and a specific way of performing Pierrot Lunaire. The work was deliberately
notated by Schoenberg to use Sprechstimme, he notates actual pitches but
expects an element of recitation; it was written for the actress Albertine Zehme
who had already developed a particular way of reciting. But, as Claire points
out, whilst Schoenberg was particular in his notation for Pierrot Lunaire, over