Pierrot Portraits
Claire Booth (soprano), Ensemble 360
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, December 2024, Choral & Song Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
No detail escapes her. Confiding, conversational, anguished, enraptured, she inhabits the piece whose instrumental filigree is perfectly judged by the conductorless Ensemble 360. From the delicate,...
Pierrot Portraits
Claire Booth (soprano), Ensemble 360
Purchase product
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, December 2024, Choral & Song Choice
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
No detail escapes her. Confiding, conversational, anguished, enraptured, she inhabits the piece whose instrumental filigree is perfectly judged by the conductorless Ensemble 360. From the delicate,...
About
Onyx Classics proudly presents a new release marking the 150th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg’s birth. For this tremendous milestone, soprano Claire Booth joins with Ensemble 360 to provide a unique programme which delves into Pierrot, a fictional character often associated with human vice, with an air of insouciance and innocence. Featured are works inspired by this devious and cunning character: Schumann’s Carnival (1835), Schoenberg’s 12-song cycle Pierrot Lunaire and Thea Musgrave’s Pierrot. Rounding out the programme are works by Amy Beach, Korngold, Debussy among others.
Contents and tracklist
Spotlight on this release
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Claire Booth on Life Stories
24th Mar 2026
The soprano discusses her recent cabaret-themed album on Orchid Classics, featuring the world premiere recording of Zoë Martlew's theatrical song-cycle Hôtel Babylon plus music by Gershwin, Eisler, Poulenc and Adès.
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Claire Booth on Pierrot Portraits
26th Nov 2024
Ahead of her Wigmore Hall recital this Friday, the intrepid soprano discusses her second recording-contribution to Schoenberg's 150th anniversary year - an album which sets his Pierrot lunaire alongside other works inspired by the commedia dell'arte figure.
Awards and reviews
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BBC Music MagazineDecember 2024Choral & Song Choice
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Presto Recordings of the YearFinalists 2024
December 2024
No detail escapes her. Confiding, conversational, anguished, enraptured, she inhabits the piece whose instrumental filigree is perfectly judged by the conductorless Ensemble 360. From the delicate, perfumed intoxication of ‘Mondestrunken’ to the skittish cabaret-inflected ‘Gemeinheit ’, this is nothing short of a triumph!
Awards Issue 2024
Booth’s approach to Sprechgesang is fluid, with the vocal line relatively filled out and Schoenberg’s notated pitches treated very much as markers in a flexible line. Within these parameters, one can only marvel at the freedom and expressivity she brings to her performance, with much to enjoy in the details, too...a Pierrot to cherish.
3rd October 2024
the vivid effect of the whole is made still more vivid by Ensemble 360’s brilliant instrumental quintet...The biggest prize here is Thea Musgrave’s magnificent instrumental trio, Pierrot, from 1985, by itself a piece worth the album’s purchase. All in all, this album is a most notable contribution to Schoenberg’s 150th birthday year.
