Discovering Stravinsky

I'm curious as I don't think I"ve heard it.

I remember hearing Firebird first then Petruchka and a friend told me about Rite of Spring, I was bamboozled at first but the rocker in me liked all the excitement, it's just the neighbors that didn't. Slowly I heard others. I think he deserves the top status above Shoernberg. His music was endlessly interesting and changing. Oh and Dumbarton Oaks is a fave.

quote:

Originally posted by mudwolf:
I'm curious as I don't think I"ve heard it.

Stravinsky spent a bit of time hanging out with Duke Ellington and other jazzers. He was fascinated with the music. So he had a go at it. That's the "Ebony Concerto".

I love it because clarinet is the featured instrument, and he scored in a Bass Clarinet and a Baritone Sax.

The sound the Bass Clarinet and the Barry Sax make is delicious, especially when they play together.

The Barry Sax is all grainy the way they do, but the Bass Clarinet is oily. Together, they make a sound I have never hear before.

New sounds are the Holy Grail :-)

Boulez did a stunning performance on CD of this for DGG, coupled with other 20th century music. It's a french group. The Ebony Concerto is track 8.

Those french guys play behind the beat like loaded American jazzers :-)



This album might be the most fun of anything in my collection ...

Everything Boulez conducts is amazing. He and Nagano are my guys....

Some second thoughts on "Ebony Concerto", if you are new to Stravinsky :

I like to tap my foot to music. Most people like the feeling of a foot going down, and a phrase starts. But in this one, lots of phrases are going to start when your foot is up in the air. It is called syncopation. It is the most salient feature of jazz, especially the music from the 20s' and 30s' Stravinsky was soaking up.

It's playing off the beat.

Very cool :-)

How can you leave out "Les Noces" from that list?

Sister xx

quote:

Originally posted by Sister E.:
How can you leave out "Les Noces" from that list?

Sister xx

Well, now you've fixed that problem :-)

Last night, I pulled out "Stravinsky - The Mono Years" and gave a listen to Pulcinella.

The recording has a "horn like" quality, but once you get used to that the sound is very clear. The playing makes up for any faults in the recording, it is fabulous. I didn't hear anything that wasn't absloutely perfect. And Stravinsky is conducting, so it's coming straight from the horse's mouth.

In Pulcinella, the harmonic language is as clear and bright as Mozart, the melodic language is stunning for its beauty, and the Russian in Stravinsy is always peeking out from beneath the covers.

Highly recommended.

yes Pulcinella is wonderful, he was great doing his own take on older material and new. Now I have to find that Ebony Concerto, I know he had a great fascination with jazz.

I don't know much about how music is played but I know swing uses the back beat. Doris Day said when she took up with a band (Les Brown?)she sang on the beat, someone clued her in on hanging back a bit, said the musicians would really appreciate it. She said it really made a difference.

quote:

I know swing uses the back beat. Doris Day said when she took up with a band (Les Brown?)she sang on the beat, someone clued her in on hanging back a bit, said the musicians would really appreciate it. She said it really made a difference.

... That's why Ella swings!!

It is certainly stylish to hang back with the beat on pizz [plucked] notes in Beethoven [and the other classicists] at least on the bass line [and on occasion in the timps as well].

Some things never change in music regardless of genre.

ATB from George

We listened a bit to the Bach WTC this morning with music, but that quickly wore us out. That being the situation, we turned to Stravinsky's "Fairy's Kiss".

It is from Stravinsky's Neoclassic period. That means he emulated forms and progressions that were popular to Mozart. But he plays fast and loose with the harmonies and rhythms Mozart favored.

It's the rhythms that first get your attention :-)

Stravinsky is a very special voice to me. When I was growing up in the 1950s, all the people who wrote music for television were into Stravinsky. They would write in that style :-)

So the first time I heard him for real, he was familiar, but somehow alien. That's not a bad way to start a relationship. (Bernstein listened to Stravinsky, and you can hear it, Copland too.)

It's very exciting for me, Stravinsky. It's made up of pieces of my life :-)

Can't resist - one final note :

George always goes on about authenticity in performance. With Stravinsky you can hear him conduct his own works in old age, live :-)

Yes he had a certain take on his own stuff. some say he wasn't the best conductor but as I understand it he had little money for all his fame. His early works weren't copyrighted and so putting out his own stuff in concert halls and LPs gave him the needed cash.

When Salonen moved to LA for the LA Phil post his real-estate guy said Stravinsky's home was available so they went to see it. He was amazed it was in original condition but he thought the history would be too much for him, besides he had 2 children and it just wasn't big enough he said with a sigh of relief at a talk.

I very much admire Stravinsky as a conductor of his own works. Besides, it is invaluable to have a record of a composer's own take on his compositions.

No one would question the value of a recording of "St. Matthews Passion" mounted under the auspices of J.S. Bach himself. I would certainly want to have one :-)

I have been listining to "Stravinsky, The Mono Years" on and off this week, particularly Pulcinella and The Fairy's Kiss.

All the recordings in this set were made between 1945 and the early 50s, and were intended for the new long playing records.

Before the advent of long playing records, listeners got 3.5 to 4 minutes per side. With the long playing records, listeners got about 26 minutes a side.

This has some obvious consequences for editing the recordings and fixing mistakes. Before the long playing record, every 3.5-4.0 minutes there was a break to change sides. With the LP that went up to about 26 minutes.

Think about what that means for editing.

and now about 77 minutes on CD.... don't know how many minutes on DVD

Many great performances have been achieved without editing in the four minute slices of 78 sides, because direct wax cutting allowed for no post production work - only the chance of a better take.

With LP began the ruin of the recording of music for instead of another take being made, a splice was made, which was and is called editing - what Klemperer accurately called a swindle.

Analogue tape and the LP has seen a severe reduction in recording discipline and standards, and a significiant increase in musical untruths in the representation of real musicians' abiltiies to play music.

This has unfortunately bread an expectation among uninformed members of the audience that perfection may be expected in concerts. It very rarely is actually achieved ...

ATB from George

In "Stravinsky, the Mono Years" I don't think there is much editing. The vocalists get the pitch right, but frequently on entrances don't initially land on the note at the right pitch. Why wouldn't they clean that up?