Chez Stravinsky

[Mirror Image]

A beautiful piece .. and that's the cool thing about Stravinsky when you're exploring him, you just never know what to expect .. he was such a musical chameleon but yet never lost his very distinctive musical identity.

Yes, he was one of most consistent composers of the 20th Century. Truly remarkable in every sense. I would like to get to the point where I know every nook and cranny of his output. I'm slowly getting there.

[lescamil]

For the pianists out there: don't miss Guido Agosti's arrangement of three movements from The Firebird. In my opinion, this is a better work than Stravinsky's own Three Movements from Petrushka, which gets far more fame than it deserves, in my opinion. I have only heard the Martin Jones recording of it, but his performance is riddled with mistakes and wrong notes, so look out for another recording if you can. Martin Jones is one of those pianists who just seems to play the entire repertoires of given composers just to show that it can be done. He has a long history of bland, clinical performances. Still, he has his value, for he has recorded lots of works that people have never paid much attention to.

EDIT: Here is a great performance of the three movements as arranged by Guido Agosti:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx1f-DUj2Mg&feature=player_embedded

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Had time to listen through Orpheus again and have a better appreciation of the unique sound-world of this music.  After the boisterous, extroverted use of the orchestra in Jeu de cartes, the sparse, reticent orchestration of Orpheus requires some serious renormalization of expectations.  The notes to the recording mention that the forces employed in Jeu de cartes and Orpheus are almost exactly the same, but Orpheus is more reserved in its use of the orchestra, and except for a few passages the texture is reminiscent of chamber music.  The most striking thing about the music is the use of neo-baroque textures during the most expressive moments of the piece, notably the writing for two oboes and harp depicting Orpheus in the underworld, and the slowly unfolding counterpoint depicting the return and loss of Eurydice.

Orpheus is one of Stravinsky's most beautiful pieces, and the true successor of another favourite of mine: Apollon Musagète.

[Mirror Image]

Orpheus is one of Stravinsky's most beautiful pieces, and the true successor of another favourite of mine: Apollon Musagète.

I agree. Orpheus, especially the opening is Stravinsky at his most delicate.

[snyprrr]

I agree. Orpheus, especially the opening is Stravinsky at his most delicate.

Yes, that opening descent...

[snyprrr]

Just listened to Le Sacre for the first time in decades (Rattle/EMI). Wow,... is this the perfect piece?? Truly primal, and Xenakian.

That bassoon sounds like a tuba, no? I don't know, I'm just so impressed,... I can hear everything in this recording. I have to go drive, and will listen again...

I feel like a little girl jumping up and down, haha!

After listening to so much other IS recently, this music really did take me by surprise. wow wow wow

wow wow wow...


just in case,... WOW!!!!!!!

[karlhenning]

Cool, snypsss. Nice to know that someone else appreciates Rattle/CBSO in this dy-no-mite piece!

[The new erato]

Cool, snypsss. Nice to know that someone else appreciates Rattle/CBSO in this dy-no-mite piece!

Is that dy-nah-mite as in the the famous Hum?

[snyprrr]

Is that dy-nah-mite as in the the famous Hum?

Jimmy Walker from Good Times TV show. Dy-no-mite!

[snyprrr]

Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky

3 Symphonies


I just welcomed this cd back into my life. This has to be the perfect Stravinsky disc, no? I just didn't feel the need to try anyone else out, not even in amazon samples. How can I trust anyone else, or any other recording, to deliver that last string chord in the 'C' Symphony?

The Last String Chord. Listen to the Spirit hovering.

[Brahmsian]

Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky

3 Symphonies


I just welcomed this cd back into my life. This has to be the perfect Stravinsky disc, no? I just didn't feel the need to try anyone else out, not even in amazon samples. How can I trust anyone else, or any other recording, to deliver that last string chord in the 'C' Symphony?

The Last String Chord. Listen to the Spirit hovering.

I agree, this CD is perfect.  Love the bassoon intro work to the final movement in Symphony in C.  Another great (but not perfect) recording of these 3 symphonies is Rattle/BP

[snyprrr]

Oedipus Rex (Salonen/Sony)

I had never heard this Opera-Oratorio (that just looks funny), but built this thing up in my imagination after reading James's thrilling review of Salonen/Sony (which I then found cheap). The 'chilling' and 'icy' words used to describe this piece (by others also on Amazon) built in my mind a very particular sound, taking all the more austere and 'serious' sounding elements of his '30s style. I was expecting a fairly icy and austere thing,... I don't know who to relate it to but maybe Dallapiccola?,... slightly sinister,...maybe a little like Orff without a motor?


Anyhow, the cd arrived, and, in anticipation of getting the right time to play it, settled on drive time. Well, I did actually brace myself in case of emergency, and, lo and behold, it came in spades. I must say now that I didn't make it past, say, track 10, because, I had reached "sounds like opera" mode and went into shutdown. I was stunned by the seeming cheerfulness of the music, with those slightly strange choral outbursts. But, it was the total opposite of what I thooought it was going to be, and, sincerely, I like my imagination better (except that hearing the Music obliterated detail). I'm sure it was just 'expectation', but, you have to admit that this sounds pretty much

I just didn't like it at all. No excuses,... it sounded like opera to me,... with some French guy speaking every now and then,... and a chorus. I don't remember the music except it was cheerfully warm,... even if the second half gets close to what I'd imagined, I don't see how, unless there is a purposeful change of tone from the beginning, how my impression could possibly change.

I am at a loss. Where is the piece in my head? It's obviously not something I've heard,... it was supposed to be THIS piece, so, what can I relate it to? I saw long held single lines, austere and pseudo Greek sounding (or, 'Important' sounding),... maybe something not like Varese, but something of that import (I guess I was expecting some drums). But, the music I heard didn't sound foreboding of tragedy,... does it? After coming off all the other BIG examples of his Neo-Class style, this seemed to me not to sound anything like any of it (sure, a credit, but I still didn't like it).

I just cannot meet the Challenge of this kind of stuff. It gives me what I call 'David Letterman face'. I'm sorry guys.

[Bogey]

A beautiful sighting earlier on our local classical station:

Igor Stravinsky: Mass
RIAS Chamber Choir / Daniel Reuss
musikFabrik
Harmonia Mundi 801913

[karlhenning]

Nice, Bill!

[Karl Henning]

I think that adding the Tanglewood Festival Chorus was a non-Stravinsky touch, but still:

http://www.youtube.com/v/UNAmF6vQTZk

[Karl Henning]

It ain't right when this thread is so utterly neglected.

[jowcol]

DUMBARTON OAKS
Written at a time of many crises in Stravinsky's life, Dumbarton Oaks is a reminder of his assertion that music "expresses nothing but itself". The work met with a mixed reaction on its premiere, being deplored by those who thought serious composers should be in the vanguard of a continous musical revolution. The opening movement is reminiscent of JS Bach's "Brandenburg" Concertos. The modest instrumental forces and the regularity of the metre all hark back to the Baroque practice. The second movement has a sly, jazz insouciance. It features flute and violin as solo instruments - plus the clarinet, an instrument that was unknown in Baroque times. The third movement is a movement with a pronounced "finale", returning to the Baroque model. Yet Stravinsky abandons counterpoint in favour of his characteristic games of deft chordal interplay, shifting accents and sprightly syncopation.



[asin]B00008Y4IM[/asin]
Both of these bring off the neoclassical lines within the bastard harmonic environment beautifully.

The last movement of Dumbarton Oaks is one of my very favorite passages by Stravinsky.   

[jowcol]

Oedipus Rex (Salonen/Sony)

I had never heard this Opera-Oratorio (that just looks funny), but built this thing up in my imagination after reading James's thrilling review of Salonen/Sony (which I then found cheap). The 'chilling' and 'icy' words used to describe this piece (by others also on Amazon) built in my mind a very particular sound, taking all the more austere and 'serious' sounding elements of his '30s style. I was expecting a fairly icy and austere thing,... I don't know who to relate it to but maybe Dallapiccola?,... slightly sinister,...maybe a little like Orff without a motor?


Anyhow, the cd arrived, and, in anticipation of getting the right time to play it, settled on drive time. Well, I did actually brace myself in case of emergency, and, lo and behold, it came in spades. I must say now that I didn't make it past, say, track 10, because, I had reached "sounds like opera" mode and went into shutdown. I was stunned by the seeming cheerfulness of the music, with those slightly strange choral outbursts. But, it was the total opposite of what I thooought it was going to be, and, sincerely, I like my imagination better (except that hearing the Music obliterated detail). I'm sure it was just 'expectation', but, you have to admit that this sounds pretty much

I just didn't like it at all. No excuses,... it sounded like opera to me,... with some French guy speaking every now and then,... and a chorus. I don't remember the music except it was cheerfully warm,... even if the second half gets close to what I'd imagined, I don't see how, unless there is a purposeful change of tone from the beginning, how my impression could possibly change.

I am at a loss. Where is the piece in my head? It's obviously not something I've heard,... it was supposed to be THIS piece, so, what can I relate it to? I saw long held single lines, austere and pseudo Greek sounding (or, 'Important' sounding),... maybe something not like Varese, but something of that import (I guess I was expecting some drums). But, the music I heard didn't sound foreboding of tragedy,... does it? After coming off all the other BIG examples of his Neo-Class style, this seemed to me not to sound anything like any of it (sure, a credit, but I still didn't like it).

I just cannot meet the Challenge of this kind of stuff. It gives me what I call 'David Letterman face'. I'm sorry guys.

I must confess that I had about the same reaction to Oedipus Rex and never went back.   Are you famliar with Les Noces?  A few years earlier, and it's one of my absolute faves by Igor.

[Lisztianwagner]

Did Stravinsky quote Joseph Lanner for the waltz section of Petrushka? The woodwinds and the harp sound playing Steyrische Tänze and Die Schönbrunner!

[Karl Henning]

Did Stravinsky quote Joseph Lanner for the waltz section of Petrushka? The woodwinds and the harp sound playing Steyrische Tänze and Die Schönbrunner!

Yes; good ear, Ilaria!