Chez Stravinsky

Started by karlhenning, April 09, 2007, 08:24:18 AM

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Ken B

Quote from: karlhenning on July 03, 2014, 09:37:45 AM
Still crazy about the Symphony in Three Movements, after all these years . . . .
It's a great piece. I always look forward to a new recording of that.  So how do you feel about his best symphony, C?

Brahmsian

Listening to these two colourful works!

The Song of the Nightingale

Columbia Symphony Orchestra

Danses Concertantes

Columbia Chamber Orchestra

Robert Craft

[asin]B000PTYUQG[/asin]

Brahmsian

More Stravinsky, for this Saturday morning!

Symphony in Three Movements

Columbia Symphony Orchestra

Symphony in C
Symphony of Psalms

CBC Symphony Orchestra

Stravinsky, conducting

[asin]B000PTYUQG[/asin]

Karl Henning

Quote from: ChamberNut on July 05, 2014, 05:45:48 AM
More Stravinsky, for this Saturday morning!

Symphony in Three Movements

Columbia Symphony Orchestra

Symphony in C
Symphony of Psalms

CBC Symphony Orchestra

Stravinsky, conducting

[asin]B000PTYUQG[/asin]

G'day, Ray!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Brahmsian

Quote from: karlhenning on July 05, 2014, 06:41:51 AM
G'day, Ray!

Good morning, Karl:)

Now I'm on to Orpheus, from the same box.  8)

Brahmsian

I've concluded my Stravinsky binge over the last few days, and am now satisfied and sated!  8)

Listened to 23 straight Stravinsky compositions (all from the Stravinsky Sony Box):

Persephone
Song of The Nightingale symphonic poem
Danses Concertantes
Symphony in Three Movements
Symphony in C
Symphony of Psalms
Orpheus
Apollon Musagete
Scenes de Ballet
Bluebird - Pas de Deux
The Fairy's Kiss
Scherzo a la Russe & Fireworks
Scherzo Fantastique
Petrushka - Suite
Pulcinella - Suite
Firebird - Suite
The Rite of Spring
Violin Concerto in D
Dumbarton Oaks Chamber Concerto
Octet for Wind Instruments
Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Duo Concertante for Violin and Piano
Symphony in E flat, Op. 1

:)


Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Enormously pleased that I rustled up the Craft MusicMasters Vol. IV disc, not only because I already had the Apollo and Orpheus which share the Naxos reissue with Agon (Craft's recording of which I was keen to hear), but especially for (par exemple two miniatures which probably dropped off the Naxos re-packaging regimen:  the arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner for men's choir (in up to 6 parts) is exquisite!

This recording of Agon is tastier even than I had anticipated.  Part of that is just that Rolf Schulte rocks the violin solo writing.  But overall, Craft emphasizes the energetic character of (for instance) the re-interpreted antique dances . . . I don't recall hearing the Gaillarde anywhere near as effervescent as here.

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Per this . . . I took a quick look in vol. 2 of the Walsh biography:

Quote from: Stephen WalshIn his by now chronic cynicism about the real feelings of the European avant-garde toward his music, Stravinsky seems to have been happy to keep his personal friendship with Boulez separate from the more complex question of professional loyalty.  "What a joy to see you in Copenhagen," he told him when he next wrote;  and to Souvtchinsky he sighed:  "Poor Boulez, it's not very jolly to be surrounded by such people."  But the indulgent words concealed a question mark, since Stravinsky went on to talk about Stockhausen in a tone of resigned reproach that implicitly included Boulez.

He knows me so little, and my music interests him so little.  He belongs naturally to a generation which needs biologically to be hostile to me.  What to do?  I can't change and won't think or speak ill of him for it, but will simply regret that it's so and that it's useless to expect any reciprocity on his part.

It was left to Souvtchinsky to interpret this lament in his own way.  "Believe me," he wrote, "Stockhausen truly values and understands you, but he's a bit gauche, in a way rather uncouth...."

from Stravinsky, The Second Exile:  France and America, 1934-1971, pp.404-405
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Ken B

Quote from: karlhenning on September 10, 2014, 10:31:59 AM
Per this . . . I took a quick look in vol. 2 of the Walsh biography:

from Stravinsky, The Second Exile:  France and America, 1934-1971, pp.404-405

I found this

QuoteI was talking to KS. He's so tall, schwing! I bet he's hung like a horse. Anyway he was helping me with Agon, but wants to keep it a secret. He's just so ... Superb

Don't know it means anything but I thought I'd pass it along.

Ken B

Quote from: ChamberNut on July 06, 2014, 07:39:36 AM
I've concluded my Stravinsky binge over the last few days, and am now satisfied and sated!  8)

Listened to 23 straight Stravinsky compositions (all from the Stravinsky Sony Box):

Persephone
Song of The Nightingale symphonic poem
Danses Concertantes
Symphony in Three Movements
Symphony in C
Symphony of Psalms
Orpheus
Apollon Musagete
Scenes de Ballet
Bluebird - Pas de Deux
The Fairy's Kiss
Scherzo a la Russe & Fireworks
Scherzo Fantastique
Petrushka - Suite
Pulcinella - Suite
Firebird - Suite
The Rite of Spring
Violin Concerto in D
Dumbarton Oaks Chamber Concerto
Octet for Wind Instruments
Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Duo Concertante for Violin and Piano
Symphony in E flat, Op. 1

:)

No Jeu de Cartes?

>:D

Brahmsian

Quote from: Ken B on September 10, 2014, 01:26:19 PM
No Jeu de Cartes?

>:D

I listen to it so often, Ken.  I was trying to listen to at least some of the works that I don't listen as often.  Jeu de Cartes is definitely a favourite.  :)

Karl Henning

Here's an interesting excerpt from the Walsh book:

Quote from: Stephen WalshIn Balanchine's original scheme, Stravinsky had evidently reached the point at which "the dances which began quite simply in the sixteenth century took fire in the twentieth and exploded."  For him it was the critical moment in the whole work [Agon], the moment at which his new, esoteric compositional technique had to be invested with a vibrant physicality alien to the music of its inventors and only found spasmodically, if at all, in a handful of works by younger composers–Boulez's Structures, Stockhausen's Kontra-Punkte–that he had heard but not studied.

(from Stravinsky, The Second Exile:  France and America, 1934-1971, pp.342

Now, considering the recent discussion mulling the question of Stockhausen supposedly influencing Igor Fyodorich.  This paragraph is about Agon, and mentions Stockhausen;  for the lazy reader, that will "mean" influence!  In fact, it is simply part of the narrative of Stravinsky's reconciling his highly individual application of serial technique (which was not a specific influence of either Boulez or Stockhausen, but goes back to Robert Craft "introducing" Igor Fyodorovich to the music of Webern), with the "vibrant physicality" which was always one of the hallmarks of Stravinsky's work.

Specifically, this paragraph indicates, if anything, Boulez and Stockhausen as "negative exemplars," for the physicality is found (according to the text) only "spasmodically, if at all" in these works which Stravinsky was known to have heard.

Did Stockhausen, Suuuuper Geenius, influence Stravinsky?   If there is evidence, it has not yet surfaced . . . .
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: Stephen Walsh
. . . He had suffered a serious stroke, and a second one, still more severe, was possible and might be fatal.  Yet even now, incredibly, he did not go to hospital.  Instead he spent a day with Karl Amadeus Hartmann, the director of the Musica Viva series in Munich, and enjoyed a high-protein dinner cooked specially for him by the chef of the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten.  His Munich concert on the 10th was cancelled.  But only when Maurice Gilbert arrived from Geneva and talked to the local specialist was Stravinsky finally persuaded to abandon his Swiss tour and, on that same 10 October, enter the Red Cross Hospital in Munich.  There he stayed for more than five weeks, forced into an unwilling quiescence while the world shook at events in Budapest, Warsaw, and Suez.  Vera stayed with him, sustained by tranquillizers, terrified of the future, desperate to go home.  Letters flowed in from friends urging him to rest, to give up conducting, to save himself for composition.  Eugene Berman wrote to Craft, insisting that he, or Vera, or even Theodore, should act.  The newspapers hovered.  After a month, the patient received a visit from the holy trinity of the avant-garde–Boulez, Stockhausen, Nono–as if they hoped for a "Weihekuss," a consecrating kiss, like Beethoven's on the child Liszt.

(from Stravinsky, The Second Exile:  France and America, 1934-1971, p.348
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Mandryka

Why is the 1919 Les Noces incomplete? Why didn't he finish the transcription? I notice that it has been completed by someone quite recently - there's a performance on vimeo.

Is it true that Les Noces was originally a 3 act opera? That's something that Boulez seems to suggest in a concert talk he gave in the 1981 premiere of the 1919 version in Paris. Has anyone performed the opera?

In case anyone's wondering what on earth I'm going on about, the 1919 Les Noces is a version for pianola and cimbalom.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Karl Henning

Quote from: Mandryka on September 24, 2014, 10:19:02 PM
Why is the 1919 Les Noces incomplete? Why didn't he finish the transcription?

I want to go back to my sources . . . I want to say that this was not a transcription, but that the composer was still in the process of searching for quite the scoring he wanted.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Mandryka

Quote from: karlhenning on September 25, 2014, 05:03:52 AM
I want to go back to my sources . . . I want to say that this was not a transcription, but that the composer was still in the process of searching for quite the scoring he wanted.

Thanks. I'd be interested to hear anything interesting you find. I used the word transcription because Boulez used it in the 1981 pre concert talk - I don't know if transcription has nuances in French which are different than in English - probably.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Linus

From a Stravinsky newbie like me:

I'm a little frustrated by finding that many of his compositions never find "release".

Most--if not all--his stuff is wonderfully tense, weird and strange, and all those otherworldly chords are awesome. But I find his pieces just race into darkness and disappear rather than resolve/dissolve into something beautifully bright--a conclusion or redemption, if you will. Although I enjoy Stravinsky very much and am constantly gobsmacked by his imagination and skill, I sometimes wish he would have gone that extra mile to create something starting from the ground and going all the way up, so to speak.

Am I nuts or do others feel something similar?

EigenUser

Quote from: Linus on February 06, 2015, 02:09:53 AM
From a Stravinsky newbie like me:

I'm a little frustrated by finding that many of his compositions never find "release".

Most--if not all--his stuff is wonderfully tense, weird and strange, and all those otherworldly chords are awesome. But I find his pieces just race into darkness and disappear rather than resolve/dissolve into something beautifully bright--a conclusion or redemption, if you will. Although I enjoy Stravinsky very much and am constantly gobsmacked by his imagination and skill, I sometimes wish he would have gone that extra mile to create something starting from the ground and going all the way up, so to speak.

Am I nuts or do others feel something similar?
Give a quick listen to his Scherzo a la Russe (very short -- c.a. 4 minutes). Hard not to crack a smile while listening to it. The ending is a hoot! Here's my favorite recording of the piece:
https://www.youtube.com/v/6z_y8_8oDrY

If you like that, then I bet you'd like his Violin Concerto, too -- particularly the first movement ('toccata').

My favorite Stravinsky is Agon. It might be worth a listen for you, too, though I'd be surprised if you liked it immediately based off of your comment above (BTW, I didn't like it until I saw the fun in it).
Beethoven's Op. 133 -- A fugue so bad that even Beethoven himself called it "Grosse".

lescamil

http://vimeo.com/58815780

The 1919 completion of Les Noces was done by Theo Verbey with the approval of Stravinsky's estate (he has also completed the string orchestra version of Berg's Lyric Suite, also with similar blessing). I quite like this version and I wish it would be recorded on a commercial CD soon.
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