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

Coming Soon

A Screenshot of a work in progess animation based on Stravinsky's 'rotational arrays' (the row from 'The Flood' in this instance.)

Apologies for not posting anything recently, I have been busy sorting out my computer (installing new programs, DVD burner, fixing stuff), playing at FES (Birmingham University) and reading (library scores and books like Arom's)

Coming fairly soon will be (hopefully) an animated video (possibly with 'narration') describing/explaining (see Nietzsche for the difference/s) Stravinsky's 'rotational arrays' (from his later 'serial' period.)

You can use the method for structuring any group/sets of pitches, it's not just a 12-tone serial thing.

Also i'll be posting in the next day or two with a sort of 'Top of the Un-Pops' composer list, I won't spoil the surprise by saying any more about that.

So, that's it for now then.

P.S. you can read a bit about rotational arrays in this PDF (courtesy of The University of Houston.), and/or buy the Cambridge Companion to Stravinsky (a USA Amazon complement.inversion.etc. link here.)

Quote For Late March

Igor Stravinsky, at work, from LIFE Magazine's photo archive.

The creator’s function is to sift the elements he receives from [the imagination], for human activity must impose limits upon itself. The more art is controlled, limited, worked over, the more it is free . . . My freedom consists in my moving about within the narrow frame that I have assigned myself for each one of my undertakings.

I shall go even further: my freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles. Whatever diminishes constraint, diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one’s self of the chains that shackle the spirit.

Stravinsky, Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons, trans. Arthur Knodel and Ingolf Dahl (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,1947), 63–5.

Available from the USA shop here, and UK here (and excellent value might I add.)

Musical 'Modernism' - The Movie

Composer Casting Couch, click for larger image.

A while ago some friends and I (at least two, honest) were discussing the possibility of a movie about the Second Viennese School, who should we cast in the major roles?.

Well, I've expanded the concept somewhat to include a few more composers, some 'modernists' more or less. (or perhaps a 'post-modernist' where Cage is concerned and Debussy and Mahler are more like pre-modernists or something).

I would have included more but after searching around some composers didn't seem easy to cast (Xenakis, Boulez, Feldman, Ligeti and others).

Some 'levity' for those long winter nights anyway, 'enjoy' (if you can name all the composers and their actor 'doubles' in the picture you win a special prize, click on the image above, here is a hint, match the images to the names in the tag list).

Oh and thanks to Ross's The Rest Is Noise blog for reminding me about the Second Viennese School 'movie' concept (via his post about Susan Sarandon's slip of the tongue at the recent Golden Globes).

Bird Talk, It`s not Cheep

Ok ok, it`s a terrible title, but the content is worthwhile, a link to Mel Martin`s webpage featuring audio interviews with quite a few major jazz 'cats', Charlie Parker being top of the list.

Interesting (to me) that in the Paul Desmond interview Parker talks about wanting to study with Varese (Parker didn`t live long enough however). This is something most current post-bop jazzers wouldn`t expect perhaps, don`t just study the omnibook guys, listen to Varese, and Bartok and Stravinsky, other Parker favourites.

Juxtapositions Documentary Series

A fine series of documentaries from Ideale Audience International.

Ive seen the Stravinsky and Schoenberg one (Final Chorale/5 Pieces for Orchestra) and I will experience the Messiaen, Boulez and Kurtag/Eötvös soon (the Pierre Henry looks interesting also, next time Gadget, next time).

You can watch excerpts here (most of them anyway, some of the new ones have not been uploaded yet).

Quote of the Day (19/03/08)

Stravinsky wrote Les Noces while staying in a small village in Switzerland. His friend and collaborator C.F. Ramuz, describing the house in which the composer lived, records...

'..how Stravinsky turned one of the attic rooms into a studio, reached by a half hidden wooden staircase well barricaded by doors, and how of a summer afternoon the sound of the composer at his piano and percussion instruments could be heard in the little square outside, where two or three women were usually to be found on a bench, knitting in the shade of the trees. These would raise their heads for a moment in bewilderment, and then with an indulgent "C`est le monsieur russe!" resume their knitting'

Music, Imagination and Culture: Nicholas Cook