SummerFest’s Musical Visit to Vienna Circa 1900

August 2, 2026

Vienna at the turn of the 20th Century served as both the political and musical capital of Central Europe, and La Jolla SummerFest’s Saturday program Vienna 1900 revisited that golden era. SummerFest Music Director Inon Barnatan assembled music of four crucial composers from that era—Johann Strauss II, Richard Strauss, Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg—a decision that merged perceptive history with rewarding programming.

Representing Vienna’s rich 19th-century musical heritage, Barnatan opened with the lush “Emperor Waltz,” Op. 437, from 1889 by Johann Strauss II, followed by Richard Strauss’s Violin Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 18, written by a very young Richard Strauss at the same time the aged Waltz King was saluting the emperors of Germany and Austria in his “Emperor Waltz.”

This charming “Emperor Waltz” arrangement scored for a seven-member ensemble—two winds, string quartet and piano—was made by Arnold Schoenberg for his own concert series that flourished in Vienna in the years following World War I. While most of Schoenberg’s contemporaries saw him as an iconoclast, he saw himself as a bold champion of German music whose future would be secured by his innovations. And this splendid “Emperor Waltz” score is an indication of his admiration of that tradition.

Kudos to flutist Rose Lombardo and first violinist Randall Goosby for their stylish, polished accounts of the ingratiating Strauss themes, amply supported and extended by Inon Barnatan at the piano.

As Richard Strauss was working on his Violin Sonata in E-flat Major, the bold themes for his first orchestral tone poem Don Juan were fighting for space in the composer’s musical imagination. The successful reception of Don Juan convinced Strauss that composing for orchestra—which soon expanded into writing some of the most influential operas of the 20th century—was his true calling, and he left the field of chamber music behind for good after completing his Violin Sonata.

So it is no surprise that some of the exciting themes Strauss gave the violinist in his Sonata sound like music intended for a full orchestra rather than evoking the genteel atmosphere of a chamber recital. Stefan Jackiw gave these flashy rhapsodic themes the panache they require, delivered with the gorgeous, supple sonority he creates with such apparent ease. Pianist George Li proved an excellent collaborator in this Sonata performance, taking complete command of the composer’s most demanding textures and tempos.

Although Arnold Schoenberg’s 1899 string sextet Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4, (Transfigured Night) does not sound radical to our ears, his harmonic language was so threatening to the Viennese professional musicians at the turn of the 20th Century, that is took Schoenberg four years of arm-twisting to find musicians willing to give a public performance of his work.

Based on a poem of the same title by Richard Dehmel, Verklärte Nacht depicts a young couple’s emotional confrontation on an evening walk, and the positive resolution of their relationship is the transformation in the title.

First violinist Blake Pouliot led this probing, passionate account of the half-hour work. He offered winning solo flights along its unpredictable path, as did cellist Alisa Weilerstein. The other stellar members of this ensemble: violinist Karen Gomyo, violists Masumi Rostad and Dmitri Murrath, as well as cellist Sterling Elliott.

Barnatan intended to round out this musical portrait of Vienna in the year 1900 with a set of seven songs by Alban Berg, Schoenberg’s pupil. Unfortunately, soprano Kiera Duffy, who had been engaged to sing the Berg lieder, was unable to perform last evening.

This concert was presented by the La Jolla Music Society on August 1, 2026, in La Jolla’s Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center. SummerFest 2026 continues in this venue through August 29, 2026.

REVIEW: SummerFest’s Musical Visit to Vienna Circa 1900