Chez Stravinsky

[karlhenning]

My ideal Le sacre production would be Roerich's original stage designs, but not the original choreography (thank you very much).

Nudity, negotiable . . . .

[karlhenning]

Of course, for all the overall consistency of 'voice' throughout an astonishingy varied career, some of my favorites are 'one-off' works which, while there are ties to what Stravinsky was doing generally at that period, create a musical space which the composer 'let be' . . . in particular I am thinking of Le baiser de la fée and Perséphone.

[Ugh!]

Was the latter the PBS production of the Joffrey Ballet doing the Millicent Hodson reconstruction of the Diaghilev production (Nijinsky, Roerich)? I have never seen this available, so I only have my old VHS taped off of the air? Who choreographed the modern production? Paul Taylor?'

It is all on Youtube, J., first part here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjX3oAwv_Fs

I happen to like the Nijinsky choreography as well, almost puppet-like, or resembling graphic animation more than anything else. In any case, Stravinsky owes a lot to the uproar that choreography created during the premiere 

[Guido]

At the risk of sounding completely plebian, to me the coreography and costumes in the linked to production were all faintly ridiculous - like watching the smurfs or maybe Star Wars Ewoks dance - to me the overall effect was more cute than terrifying tribal ritual. I like the opening of part II though.

Loads of other productions on youtube. Just three:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5zfODAaikE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdoF2yJzr2I&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axuJXlEWYhg&feature=related

[pjme]

Listened to Mavra yesterday ( on the radio/ Stravinsky conducting). What a great work! I really must listen again.
P.

[karlhenning]

And the Prelude to Mavra: it's like Copland, before Copland was Copland 

[Herman]

At the risk of sounding completely plebian, to me the coreography and costumes in the linked to production were all faintly ridiculous - like watching the smurfs or maybe Star Wars Ewoks dance - to me the overall effect was more cute than terrifying tribal ritual. I like the opening of part II though.

Loads of other productions on youtube. Just three:

The Sacre is typically a ballet that needs to be seen in the theatre. It films very badly because it's all about the ensemble on the theatre floor  - something a camera can't capture.

The Sacre with the girls with their panties down was a hoot. I thought this was the second act, thinking you don't want to strip right away, and then the oboe started: Act one! [edit: obviously this should be: "bassoon"]

You know, ever since the fifties the Sacre has been one of the main dump sites for desperate AD - choreographers. If you don't know what to do, just do a Sacre.

[karlhenning]

In a way, a sort of "arrival" for the piece, I guess.

[Dax]

I don't think there's been any mention of Zvesdoliki (The King of the stars) which is a favourite Stravinsky piece of mine - and several friends over here in Britland.

[karlhenning]

It's a rich score, characteristically likeable . . . just over almost before you know it.

[karlhenning]

Also . . . I have this idea that Stravinsky didn't mean the 'inscription chords' to be sung, yet . . . Craft goes ahead and has them sung.

Perhaps I misremember, though.

[Herman]

Also . . . I have this idea that Stravinsky didn't mean the 'inscription chords' to be sung, yet . . . Craft goes ahead and has them sung.

Perhaps I misremember, though.

Please explain. What are the inscription chords?

[karlhenning]

At the head of the first page, and before the score proper begins, Stravinsky 'sets' the title, Zvez-do-li-ki, to four chords in white-note notation.

[karlhenning]

Hmm . . . I thought I remembered them singing the Hebrew letters in Threni (which are in the body of the score) in the Craft recording;  guess it's high time to listen again!

[Drasko]

Is Angelin Preljocaj's coreography of Rite of Spring available on DVD? It looks very interesting, panties or no panties.

[Dax]

Also . . . I have this idea that Stravinsky didn't mean the 'inscription chords' to be sung, yet . . . Craft goes ahead and has them sung.

Perhaps I misremember, though.

Yes, they're notated strangely aren't they? Every performance I've heard includes them including Stravinsky's own (if memory serves me right).

[Ugh!]

There is a curious recording of Mavra done with an arrangement for a small theatre orchestra (Moscow Helikon Theatre Cha Orch/Cyril Tikhonov) with a small ensemble (piano, harmonium, solo instruments).  Has the kind of ad hoc feel of Renard. You miss the full wind sonorities, but the performance is very effective dramatically. I'd love to see a live performance in this form.  '

That's interesting, J., you know I love these alternative arrangements (re:weddings). Is this recording available anywhere (for instance in your collection )?

[karlhenning]

. . . I will not bother playing with words: So I will aver that Stravinsky was much more in the stylistic stream of folklorism than impressionism.

Which, not by mere chance, was in harmony with one of the principal artistic aims of Мир Исскуства (The World of Art).

[karlhenning]

I thought I remembered the absence of any such thing;  but I've now re-read the chapter, and can without the least doubt observe that Roman Vlad, in the 8-page chapter of his book devoted exclusively to Le sacre du printemps, does not mention either Debussy or La mer.  Not even once.

In a footnote, Vlad points out that John Cocteau wrote:

All in all, the Rite of Spring is still a savage work, an organized savage work (oeuvre fauve).

Offhand, it does note seem that Cocteau would place La mer in the same stylistic bucket.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

a little review

This earlier-mentioned disc arrived & I've been listening to it:

First impressions are highly positive. I can only compare Gielen's Requiem Canticles with the pioneering Craft recording. Gielen scores highly in terms of bringing out the color and detail of the score; by comparison Craft sounds a bit rough and 1-dimensional. Gielen has convinced me that Requiem Canticles is one of Igor's most mysterious and enchanting scores - something I had suspected, but wasn't convinced of before now.