Breaking Free

Tonight's essayist is Radio 3 presenter and pianist Sarah Walker who describes the experience of learning and performing Schoenberg's Suite for piano (Op.25) for her MA recital.

Sarah Walker on learning and playing Schoenberg's Suite for Piano, Op 25, for her MA.

Tonight's essayist is broadcaster and journalist Stephen Johnson who has chosen Schoenberg's Second String Quartet as his touchstone - a work that defines Schoenberg's movement away from traditional tonality and embraces the dissonance.

Stephen Johnson discusses Schoenberg's String Quartet No 2.

Tonight's essayist is Gillian Moore, Director of Music at Southbank Centre in London. She talks about Alban Berg's relationships with key women in his life, including his final operatic creation 'Lulu'.

Gillian Moore talks about Alban Berg's relationships with the women in his life.

Musician and broadcaster Tom McKinney recalls his 'first contact' with the music of Webern - his Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op.5, and then taking part in a transformative performance of the same work as a professional musician.

Tom McKinney on his 'first contact' with the music of Webern: Five Pieces for Orchestra.

Bethany Bell is a BBC foreign correspondent and has lived in Vienna for more than 15 years. In tonight's Essay Bethany remembers living in M怀dling, a town near Vienna where Schoenberg lived and where on walks with Berg and Webern he devised his radical ideas for music.

Journalist Bethany Bell on living in Modling, a town near Vienna where Schoenberg lived.