Schoenberg's revolutionary piano piece

Описание: Schoenberg's op.11 represents one of his very first essays in atonality despite the influence of late German romanticism remaining strongly imprinted in the aesthetic of this piece. One could almost compare the opening of the piece to the prelude of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde or even the first few bars of the Adagio in Bruckner's 9th, not to mention the intensive motivic development of the third that reminds me of Brahms famous Intermezzo in A major. Of course, Schoenberg finds unique ways of expression and form, most interestingly a proclivity for softer dynamics (all the way to ppp!) and an incredible suppleness in tempo.
The form remains a simple ABA' but the introduction of rapidly changing textures and constant micro-variations of the same theme creates some ambiguity. I've divided and labelled inner sections as how I hear them to be but I'm sure others will hear them differently.
In terms of motivic analysis, I tried to point out the ones that had seemed the most pertinent to me; I know of some analyses that try to find as many relationships as possible but I find that this may, unfortunately, end up cluttering up the final analysis and takes away the possibility of finding and diversifying new material!
This video is a small tribute to Maurizio Pollini, an incredible pianist who made exceptional recordings of modern repertoire.

Recording (Pollini):    • Maurizio Pollini ~ Schoenberg op. 11, 19, ...