Webern: 3 Little Pieces for cello and piano - op. 11

The (…) "Three Little Pieces for cello and piano op. 11" follow the pattern set by op. 7, except that the second piece is very short (a peremptory duo in the manner of the abandoned sonata), the third is pared to the bone, and there is no fourth. Webern wrote at this time of the imperative he felt to end a composition when all twelve notes had sounded just once, and the third piece of op. 11 comes close to this disturbing near-muteness. (Paul Griffiths)

Grade: 7