Hanging Gardens

Pianist Jacob Greenberg connects two post-Wagnerian compositional lineages that are usually seen as divergent on this beautiful curated two CD set -- Debussy's intuitively driven harmonic world and the Second Viennese School's rigorously systematic approach to pitch. He asserts that the unifying element lies in the sensuality of this music and his solo performances of music by Debussy, Berg, and Webern, along with a deeply moving performance Schoenberg's hidden gem of a song cycle "The Book of Hanging Gardens" with soprano Tony Arnold testify to his sensitivity to the textural richness that connects these aesthetic schools, despite their philosophical differences.