Igor Stravinsky is renowned for his legacy of glittering fairy tales in treasured favourites such as Petrushka and The Firebird. Another favourite is the ballet Pulcinella, a lovable melange of Baroque theatricality, heard here in it's concert suite form. The other works in this programme are surprisingly less known: the luminous and symphonic Song of the Nightingale, and The Fairy's Kiss based on Tchaikovsky's music, are both derived from stories by Hans Christian Andersen. An astonishing rarity, The Faun and the Shepherdess is an ancient Greek tale that was Stravinsky's romantically sensual gift to his young bride.

The Symphony in C was conceived in Paris in the late 1930s, but completed in America in 1940, and is dedicated to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and premièred in 1946, the Symphony in Three Movements presents us with movements that also manifest different ways of moving: a march, a slow dance, and a march-jog-race. The Greeting Prelude was written as an eightieth birthday tribute to Pierre Monteux, conductor of the premières of Pétrouchka and The Rite of Spring, and was first performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on the very day: 4 April 1955. The other two pieces on the album reflect Stravinsky’s lifelong involvement with ballet. The Divertimento is an orchestral piece extracted by Stravinsky from his ballet The Fairy’s Kiss. The ballet was a homage to Tchaikovsky, based on songs and piano pieces by him, stitched together and orchestrated with Stravinskian cool. The Circus Polka was a commission from Stravinsky’s long-time collaborator George Balanchine, who had been asked by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to create a dance for elephants. The version heard here is the composer’s own orchestral version; the original was scored for circus band and organ by David Raksin, and performed by fifty elephants and fifty female dancers!

REVIEW:

It’s easy to underestimate the depth and breadth of Andrew Davis’s repertoire and indeed his sterling qualities as a conductor – his ebullience, robust sense of rhythm and razor-sharp ears. All of which are much in evidence in this generous compendium of Stravinsky.

-- Gramophone

Igor Stravinsky is not a composer who is usually associated with symphonic form. Five of his compositions bear that name, however, even though they have little in common. The first major work Stravinsky composed entirely in the United States, the Symphony in Three Movements seems to pick up where the Rite of Spring left off with it's rhythmic ostinatos and shock effects. It can be interpreted as the composer's response to the Second World War, which was ravaging Europe at the time of it's composition, and it's striking and triumphant conclusion appears to echo of what the composer must have felt. The Symphonies of Wind Instruments, a short, compact work, was a tribute to Stravinsky's friend and colleague Claude Debussy. Although it's kaleidoscopic formal conception disconcerted audiences at it's premiere, it is now considered to be one of Stravinsky's finest works, showing daring originality. The Symphony in C was composed on two continents during a difficult period for the composer, though this is in no way betyrayed by it's simplicity, good humour and 'classicism'. With this disc, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia and Dima Slobodeniouk present a fascinating aspect of the multifaceted output of a composer whose style was constantly evolving.

Soulima Stravinsky was the third child of Igor and Yekaterina Stravinsky. His career in music encompassed performing as a recitalist and concerto soloist, particularly noted for interpretations of his father's music, musicology, education, and composition. Soulima's performing career was slowly expanded with achievements as a transcriber, editor, author, and composer, although in the later endeavour his work was inevitably overshadowed by his father's towering reputation. Soulima had a particular gift for composing music for children. He made two visits to the Nimbus Studios, in 1975 to record these performances of his father's music, and in 1977 to record his own music for children. This is the first release of these fine performances, fascinating not least for their specific historic significance. � Adrian Farmer

Santtu conducts Stravinsky is the third album from Philharmonia Records featuring two incredible works by Igor Stravinsky - the complete Petrushka (1947 version), and the Firebird Suite (1945 version) - conducted by Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, these two works were recorded at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in 2023.

For all its traditional ties, Stravinsky's music continues to have a shockingly modern effect on many listeners even today. In his music, praise of God is formulated in tones entirely different from those expected by music lovers schooled in the romantic tradition. Stravinsky did not compose "emotional" or "expressive" religious music but sought objectivity, archaic prototypes, and traditions of timeless value, presenting these elements as if under microscopic enlargement.

The Camerata Salzburg begins a collaboration with Channel Classics and, with it's leader Giovanni Guzzo, presents it's first recording entitled Muses. The album includes three neoclassical masterpieces for chamber orchestra by Igor Stravinsky. The Concerto in E-flat "Dumbarton Oaks" is a small concerto in the style of the Brandenburg Concertos. Apollon musag�te pays homage to Apollo, and to the Muses of mime, poetry and dance, with beautiful, harmonically pure and melodically perfect music. The Concerto in D employs every conceivable kind of string sound and technique, creating a combination of pure melodic and rhythmic drive and wonderful cantabile passages. In these three works, Camerata Salzburg delves deeply into sound, a quest made possible by each musician's individual commitment to the ensemble, uniting the muses of chamber music, concert and orchestra.

Cappella Amsterdam, it's celebrated chief conductor Daniel Reuss, and the Noord Nederlands Orkest present a recording of Igor Stravinsky's late works, showcasing the composer's remarkable transformation. Embracing the twelve-tone technique in his later years, Stravinsky reshaped his contrapuntal voice and produced works of rigorous structure, spiritual depth, and emotional intensity. These late compositions, from In Memoriam Dylan Thomas to Requiem Canticles, reveal a composer who fused intellectual precision with ritualistic power, creating music that is as moving as it is masterful. Featuring an exceptional lineup of soloists - Berit Norbakken, Marianne Beate Kielland, Guy Cutting, Thomas Walker, Tobias Berndt, and Stephan MacLeod - together with harmonium players Dirk Luijmes and Martin Logar, this recording unites compelling interpreters of vocal and choral music. Under Daniel Reuss's artistic direction of over thirty years, Cappella Amsterdam, together with the Noord Nederlands Orkest, bring these masterpieces to life with unmatched clarity and devotion. The choir has garnered numerous accolades, including an Edison Klassiek Award for In Umbra Mortis (2021), and has continued it's acclaimed recording journey with David Lang: the writings (2022), Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance (2023), Tales of Song and Sadness (2024), and Lassus: Penitential Psalms (2025).

Dr. Graham Griffiths writes: “Every recording of Stravinsky’s ‘complete works for solo piano’ is a considerable achievement. However, this latest 5-album cycle with Russian pianist Alexey Zuev is a cause for special celebration for it also includes all of Stravinsky’s piano transcriptions and arrangements, many of which have never before been recorded – indeed, until now, some have remained completely unknown. This project, therefore, represents a significant milestone in Stravinsky recording history. Alexey Zuev and Outhere Music are to be congratulated for bringing every corner of Stravinsky’s pianistic catalogue into the wider musical conversation, and for making the case most convincingly that all of this solo repertoire, whether original or transcribed, deserves to be performed and appreciated as part of this great composer’s innovative canon of piano works.”

Lars Vogt (1970-2022) early recordings collected here provide a document of an artist who always remained authentic, both to himself and to music. Lars Vogt never sought absolute truth, but truthfulness instead meant all the more to him. The man and the artist were always very close, never currying favour and never detached from the world. He was, instead, open and natural. "It's incredibly gratifying when you notice that you can perhaps light a little spark, a little flame for music in people, and when music helps you to find the path to your own soul."

STRAVINSKY / LIGETI / BERG / WEBERN

Classical Music

2019 release. Beatrice Rana, in the words of the New York Times, is a pianist who "has ferocious technique but is distinguished by her musical intelligence." Here she plays virtuosic, poetic works that evoke the creative ferment of Paris in the transitional early years of the 20th century: piano transcriptions of Stravinsky's iridescent ballet scores The Firebird and Petrushka, and Ravel's Miroirs and La Valse.

Stravinsky / Stravinsky: Spring Festival, E�tv�s: Alhambra Pablo Heras-Casad & Paris Orchestra, Isabelle Faust Import - Isabelle Faust (violin), Orchestre de Paris, Pablo Heras-Casado 2021 release.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

One of the foremost musicians of his generation, James Ehnes continues to dazzle audiences around the world. Here he joins the BBC Philharmonic and Sir Andrew Davis in a recording of Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto. Written for the Polish virtuoso Samuel Dushkin, the four-movement work takes the music of Bach as its inspiration, and is built around a chord of the notes D, E, and A, which Stravinsky described as his ‘passport to the concerto’ and with which the solo violin part opens each movement. Dushkin gave the premiere, conducted by Stravinsky, in Berlin in 1932.

Apollon musagète, a ballet in two parts for string orchestra, was written in 1927-28, and demonstrates the composer’s complete rejection of the Russian folk music and idioms that had been so instrumental in his previous ballets (The Firebird, Petrushka). They are replaced by a concentration on ‘pure form’, which became known as his neo-classical style. The album is completed by his two orchestral suites – light-hearted music arranged from piano duets he had written in the 1910s – and Scherzo à la russe, a showpiece for the Paul Whiteman band that he composed in the early 1940s when newly arrived in California.

Stravinsky has been compared to his near contemporary Picasso, the painter who provided d�cor for Pulcinella and who through a long career was to show mastery of a number of contrasting styles. Stravinsky's earlier music was essentially Russian in inspiration, followed by a style of composition derived largely from the eighteenth century, interspersed with musical excursions in other directions. His so-called neo-classicism coincided with the beginning of a career that was now international. The initial enthusiasm for the Russian revolution of 1917 that had led even Dyagilev to replace crown and scepter in The Firebird with a red flag, was soon succeeded by distaste for the new r�gime and the decision not to return to Russia. Stravinsky wrote his Danses concertantes in Hollywood in 1941 and early 1942, in response to a commission from the Wemer Janssens Orchestra, which gave the first performance in Los Angeles on 8th February under the direction of the composer. Although originally intended for concert use, the Danses concertantes were planned in balletic sequence, with an introductory and concluding march to bring the dancers on and off the stage and the necessary variety, not only in the Pas d' action and Pas de deux but also in the theme and variations, three of the latter based on an ascending semitone step. In 1944 the dances were choreographed by Balanchine for the Ballet russe of Monte Carlo. The style of writing reflects that of the earlier ballet Jeu de cartes.

Stravinsky composed his music at the keyboard, often struggling to play his own complex rhythms. It is not surprising therefore that many of his symphonic works also exist in his own piano versions, such as the four hand transcription of his ballet, The Rite of Spring. It is a pianistic tour de force, the players often having to interweave fingers, hands and arms to meet the composers tremendous demands of virtuosity. The work has for many years formed part of the standard repertoire of Benjamin Frith and Peter Hill. They have played it throughout England to astonished audiences, and have broadcast this (and the other two works on this disc) on BBC Radio 3. The performance is staggeringly brilliant, superbly recorded in St Silas Church, London on a wonderful Bosendorfer Imperial Grand. The duo are now recording exclusively for Naxos, Peter Hill will be recording the complete music by Stravinsky for two hands at sessions this summer.

In contrast to Igor Strawinsky’s piano works for two hands, which are chiefly ascribed to neoclassicism, the compositions for four hands and two pianos belong to all three periods of his creative work: “Trois pieces faciles” as well as the “cinq pieces faciles” to the Russian, the “Concerto per due pianoforti soli” to the French and the “Sonata for two pianos” to the American phase.