Drei kleine Stucke fur Violoncello und Klavier, Op. 11

Three little pieces for cello and piano, Op. 11, composed 1914 and published 1924. The three pieces together last barely three minutes, making Op. 11 one of the shortest multi-movement chamber works in the entire repertoire. Each piece is a single, concentrated expression stripped to essentials: a few bars of extraordinary harmonic and gestural concentration. No. 3 in particular, at about forty seconds, pushes the boundaries of what a 'piece' of music can be. The Op. 11 pieces represent Webern's free-atonal style at its most elliptical and miniaturist.