Today marks the 70th anniversary of the death of Anton Webern, who died in a tragic moment of music history a few months after the war on 15 September 1945.

In his Penser la Musique Aujourd’hui, Pierre Boulez reflected on how young composers who came to maturity after World War II turned to Anton Webern as THE pivotal figure of the pre-war “avant-garde” (more than Schoenberg or Berg, and certainly far more than Stravinsky or Bartók): “It is obvious that Webern – who emerged very early on as the chief landmark in defining our own personalities – stands at the centre of these “explorations’”.

There’s still plenty of time to join Karlheinz Essl in his WebernUhrWerk project, find out more here.

“Rather, the thing is that all of this structural unity creates a symphonic form that sounds neither completely predictable nor totally random. […] This is an emotionally moving experience, too, in the range of expression Webern conjures, which includes heightened, violent lyricism as well as pointillist brilliance.”

Here is Tom Service’s take on Anton Webern’s Symphonie, op. 21, written for The Guardian’s Symphony guide. Read the full review here.

Conductor Ilan Volkov introduces the New Century concerts by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Volkov and the BBC SSO perform Schönberg, Berg and Webern on Wednesday and Thursday next week.

Watch the video on YouTube.