SchirmerNews WebNotes

Leon Kirchner has made an indelible mark on music history through his own remarkable style – in his words, “an artist must create a personal cosmos, a verdant world in continuity with tradition...powered by conviction and necessity.” Like Arnold Schoenberg, his mentor, Kirchner weaves the past and the present, creating music that masterfully conveys our contemporary world.

Kirchner’s music has an explosive energy with an intensely emotional impact. It balances the minimum with the maximum and the simple with the complex. It surges with dynamic rhythms and shifting tempos that exude expression. It bows to tradition through its structures but charts new territory through its elements. Kirchner’s latest music fully embodies this portrait, transporting his personal cosmos into three works of remarkable intent.

The Forbidden, is the last in a triptych begun in 2006 with the Piano Sonata No. 3 and the String Quartet No. 4, written for Joel Fan and the Orion String Quartet, respectively. Each work in this triptych shares similarities in their overall structure, melodic lines, duration, and harmonic consistancy; however, the three works, like triplet children, have their own personalities.

Look and Listen by clicking on the links below to explore the similarities and the differences in the three Forbidden works.

Both audio and score examples begin at measure 215 and end at measure 252.

---

Kirchner Piano Sonata No. 3, "The Forbidden", mm. 215-252
© 2006 AMP

Kirchner String Quartet No. 4, "The Forbidden", mm. 215-252
© 2006 AMP

There is no audio available for the orchestral version of The Forbidden.
The Forbidden for orchestra, mm. 215-252 (Adobe Acrobat PDF 918KB)
© 2008 AMP