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08/03/2024
Igor Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements [1] – Symphonies of Wind Instruments (original version) [2] – Symphony in C [1]
Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Dima Slobodeniouk (conductor)
Recording: Palacio de la Opera, A Coruna, Spain (February 11‑15, 2019 [1], June 18‑19, 2023 [2]) – 62’10
SACD BIS Records BIS-2441 (Distributed by Naxos of America) – Booklet in English, German and French
Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia (OSG)’s recording of Stravinsky’s symphonies is a refresher course of one of Stravinsky’s most musically creative periods and personally challenging periods. His unconventional symphonic pieces are overshadowed by his earlier works, the ballet scores in particular. OSG’s longtime conductor (2012-2022) Dimi Slobodeniouk leads these altogether stellar performances of three of Stravinsky’s unconventional symphonies. Slobodeniouk is renowned for his interpretive depth, and that is certainly true here as he details Stravinsky’s neoclassic/modernist style.
Leading off this recording is Symphony in Three Movements, composed from 1942-45 when Stravinsky had already emigrated to the US as war raged in Europe. It was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and, coincidently, Stravinsky was also working on revisions to Le Sacre du printemps. And, indeed, the orchestral effects in this symphony are as turbulent, brooding and raw as scenes from his ballet score. The first movement thunders in with clamorous drums, dissonant horn clusters and a forceful piano solo taking sharp rhythmic charge – it is Igor diabolique.
The tension fades into chamber music miniatures in the second movement (“Andante-Interlude”) with airy woodwind and string sound clouds. The interplay is almost Carnevale, à la his ballet Petrouchka, that gives way to an uplifting final movement (“Con moto”) which dissolves into a foreboding coda. Stravinsky explained that it should be titled Three Symphonic Movements for its contrasting elements.
Some viewed the piece as, perhaps, a sequel to Le Sacre in its violent orchestral drama. In his excellent notes Jean-Pascal Vachon writes about how Stravinsky’s musical periods overlap. Stravinsky wrote later that this particular symphony was non-expressive but pure music. But later he acknowledged that he may have been reflective of the carnage of WWII. Whatever the personal subtext, the OSG musicians deliver the work with technical precision and thrilling orchestral drive.
It is followed by Symphonies of Wind Instruments in its original 1920 version that was dedicated to Claude Debussy who died in 1918. Stravinsky conceived the piece with 24 wind instruments, not in a ‘symphonic form’ but, instead, applying the archaic Greek meaning of symphony as ‘sounding together.’ It is a lustrous three movement (unpaused) nine minute piece. Vachon notes Stravinsky “uses combinations like a modular system of building blocks at short motifs and method reminiscent of Beethoven.”
It opens with a cluster of heralds of the reeds with unsettled air as the other reeds and horns swirl around its opening themes into a meditative ode. The harmonic layers and dialogues between the musicians (flutes, piccolo, English Horn, oboes, bassoons, clarinets, trombone, tuba) is Stravinsky on his own lyrical strata and transporting in this performance.
Symphony in C was composed when Stravinsky was grieving for his wife Ekaterina and their daughter Ludmilla who both died of tuberculosis. Shortly after their deaths, his mother passed. But Vachon notes the composer stated later that “I did not seek to overcome my grief by portraying her and giving impression to it in music.” He considered it ‘pure music’ without any inference of emotional expression. The next year he left Europe and finished the piece in Cambridge and Hollywood where he remained. Many critics at the time pointed out that the last two movements had a more American feel.
It is set in a classic symphonic four movement structure. But here, too, Stravinsky deviates and deconstructs the expected musicality. The technical and aesthetic approach is distinct from his ballets and chamber music, even if there is overlapping motifs. It is particularly interesting the symphonies were considered modernist when Stravinsky chose baroque and classical structural building blocks as jumping off points, or, as Vachon refers to them, being Stravinsky-ized.
These orchestrals are not performed enough by American orchestras on the concert stage, and the ballet scores remain his hit playlist. It is not necessary to know any of this background to be completely entranced by these symphonies, so fueled by his indelible concepts. All is vividly brought to life by Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia’s players led by maestro Slobodeniouk. It is unfortunate that the musicians are not listed in the disc booklet because there are several outstanding soloists.
Lewis J. Whittington
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