A Quotation, Because It's Nearly Christmas.

Stravinsky; courtesy of Pablo Picasso.

I did not and indeed could not, count on any immediate success for this work. It is devoid of all the elements which infallibly appeal to the ordinary listener and to which he is accustomed. It would be futile to look in it for any passionate impulse or dynamic brilliance.

It is an austere ritual which is unfolded in terms of short litanies between different groups of homogeneous instruments.

I fully anticipated that the cantilene of clarinets and flutes, frequently taking up again their liturgical dialogue and softly chanting it, did not offer [the public] sufficient attraction.

Stravinsky writing about Symphonies of Wind Instruments; Chronicle of My Life pp.156-7 (quoted in Stravinsky by Roman Vlad pg. 80)

For US readers, Chronicle of My Life and Stravinsky by Roman Vlad Complement.Inversion.Etc store links (UK store links above.)

Free Stuff!!, Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments

Stravinsky: 'What's that?, free stuff?'

That's right, Stravinsky's finest piece (possibly, as if such a thing could exist) Symphonies of Wind Instruments was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 this evening.

Performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth you can listen to it on the BBC's site here, but if that isn't working for you (you are reading this after the 7 day period for instance) then by some strange coincidence some kind and thoughtful soul has uploaded it to the internets, you can get it here as an MP3 (let me know if the link goes dead and I'll try and find another copy of it, somewhere.)

While on the subject of Stravinsky's best piece (cough) don't forget about Frank Scheffer's excellent documentary 'Stravinsky: The Final Chorale' available on DVD from the complement.inversion store here (US 'customers' go here.)

It's a double bill with his documentary about Schoenberg's über Five Orchestral Pieces (now in its centenary year.)

Probably the 'best' DVD in Ideale Audience International's 'Juxtapositions' series (excluding the ones about Glass, Part and Dun, not seen those obviously, or, obviously)

Both documentaries feature the usual talking heads stuff about the pieces and end with performances (the Stravinsky by the Netherlands Wind Ensemble cond. Reinbert De Leeuw, the Schoenberg by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic cond. Michael Gielen), very worth seeing.

Tinyurl for this post: http://tinyurl.com/ybegkmw