BaL 28.05.22 - Stravinsky: Symphony in three movements

[Pulcinella]

9.30 am
Building a Library
Jonathan Cross compares recordings of Igor Stravinsky's Symphony in 3 Movements and picks a favourite.

The first movement of Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements began life as a piano concerto. And in a failed bid to join the ranks of well-paid movie composers in Hollywood where Stravinsky now lived, the second movement, with its prominent harp part, was originally conceived to accompany a vision of the Virgin Mary in the 1943 film Song of Bernadette. Stravinsky's genius was to add a third movement, related to the first, and so create a cohesive, satisfying and brilliant whole despite the disparate origins of its first two parts. He completed the Symphony in 1945 and, despite a deeply felt sense of exile, loss and nostalgia, it's perhaps some of the most American-sounding of Stravinsky's music, capped by a resplendent final chord, straight out of Hollywood.

Available versions

OSR/Ansermet (D)
Berlin RSO/Ashkenazy (D)
Israel PO/Bernstein (D)
American SO/Botstein (D)
BPO/Boulez (CD/D)
Rotterdam PO/Conlon (D) [+]
Philharmonia/Craft (CD/D)
Bavarian RSO/Davis (D)
LSO/Davis (D)
OSR/Dutoit (D)
VPO/Furtwangler (D)
LSO/Gergiev (SACD/D)
RSNO/Gibson (CD/D)
SW German RSO/Gielen (CD/D)
NYPO/Gilbert (D)
LSO/Goossens (D)
French NRO/Horenstein (D)
Bavarian RSO/Jansons (Blu-ray/DVD) [+]
Norrlands Operas SO/K Järvi (SACD) [+]
OSR/N Järvi (D)
Moscow Phil SO/Kitayenko (D)
Concertgebouw O/Klemperer (SACD/D)
Philharmonia/Klemperer (D)
Bavarian RSO/Maazel (D)
NYPO/Mehta (CD)
Bamberg SO/Metzmacher (D) [+]
Bamberg SO/Nott (SACD)
Melbourne SO/Otterloo (D)
BPO/Rattle (D)
CBSO/Rattle (Presto CD/D)
LSO/Rozhdestvensky (CD/D)
Bavarian RSO/Sacher (D)
Philharmonia/Salonen (D)
Finnish RSO/Saraste (D)
NZSO/Shao (CD/D)
Philharmonia/Silvestri (D)
Chicago SO/Solti (Presto CD/D)
Zurich Tonhalle/Solti (D) [+]
BBCSO/Stravinsky (D)
Columbia SO/Stravinsky (CD/D)
NYPO/Stravinsky (CD/D)
SW German RSO/Stravinsky (CD/D)
LSO/MTT (D)
San Francisco S/MTT (D) [+]
St Petersburg State Academic SO/Titov (CD/D)

Key

Blu-ray and DVD: obvious!
CD: CD available singly or in a set
Presto CD: CD available from Presto
D: download
+: New since Our Summer BaL 67 (or somehow missed off that list)

[Pulcinella]

Thread launched with Alpie's permission/encouragement.
Based on Our Summer BaL 67, so a slightly different format to the list compared to the way Alpie usually presents it.
There was a Chicago SO/Boulez version given in that list which I think must have been a mistake.
Also an unknown orchestra/Silvestri version that I can no longer find.

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?20623-Our-Summer-BAL-67-Stravinsky-Symphony-in-three-movements

As usual, additions and corrections willingly accepted.

I find that I have 14 of these versions on my shelves, and I also have the BBC MM cover CD version (BBCSSO/Volkov) mentioned in that thread.
It didn't elicit much response: let's hope there's more this time round.

[Darloboy]

Previous BaL choices:

Michael Oliver (July 1996): LSO, Davis
Martin Cotton (April 2006): RSNO, Gibson + Columbia SO, Stravinsky (1961) as historic choice.

The work was also covered by BaL in May 1986 but I'm afraid I don't know what Roger Nichols chose on that occasion.

[Joseph K]

I like this piece and Jonathan Cross's writings.

[Serial_Apologist]

I like this piece and Jonathan Cross's writings.

Hadn't come across Prof. Cross (no pun intended) until your mention of his name, Joseph K...

http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/staff/professor-jonathan-cross

...but like you I love this work, more than any, (apart from the fabulous Concerto for 2 Pianos of '37) composed between "Les Noces" and "Orpheus" and representing an unapologetic return to the vigorous "musical cubist" post-"Rite" period for nearly the first time as it did, through the prism of the preceding quarter century of comparable Neo-Classicist restraint with added Latin verve. (In its finale Stravinsky did the Mexican room so much better than Copland had managed to nine years previously!)

[ardcarp]

Slightly off topic, but I am very keen to get the box set of Stravinsky complete works for piano, including his own transcriptions (some of which may have been the originals of orchestral works according to the excellent Kenneth Hamilton). Today's BAL website just lists...


Igor Stravinsky

L'Oiseau de feu, K010, Tableau 1 (Arr. for Piano by Igor Stravinsky): Movements 15-17
Performer: Alexey Zuev. Music Arranger: Igor Stravinsky.

Stravinsky: The Complete Piano Solos & Transcriptions. Fuga Libera.




...which I don't find very helpful. Can any kind person direct me to the box set? I guess I'll probably have to dig deeply into the pocket to get it!

[Bryn]

Slightly off topic, but I am very keen to get the box set of Stravinsky complete works for piano, including his own transcriptions (some of which may have been the originals of orchestral works according to the excellent Kenneth Hamilton). Today's BAL website just lists...


Igor Stravinsky

L'Oiseau de feu, K010, Tableau 1 (Arr. for Piano by Igor Stravinsky): Movements 15-17
Performer: Alexey Zuev. Music Arranger: Igor Stravinsky.

Stravinsky: The Complete Piano Solos & Transcriptions. Fuga Libera.




...which I don't find very helpful. Can any kind person direct me to the box set? I guess I'll probably have to dig deeply into the pocket to get it!

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9321231--stravinsky-the-complete-piano-solos-transcriptions

https://uk.7digital.com/artist/alexey-zuev/release/stravinsky-the-complete-piano-solos-and-transcriptions-20862980

[RichardB]

Jonathan Cross's writings.

Do you know his book on Birtwistle? It's very useful although a bit pedestrian for my liking.

[Joseph K]

Do you know his book on Birtwistle? It's very useful although a bit pedestrian for my liking.

That's the only book of his I have - and thus what I was basing my comment on! Although I think he's also authored a few CD liner notes that I have...

[richardfinegold]

I actually don’t have a stereo recording, just Stravinsky and Horenstein in mono. How is the Boulez?

[Pulcinella]

I actually don’t have a stereo recording, just Stravinsky and Horenstein in mono. How is the Boulez?

Others might disagree, but I find the start just a little too thick/overweight, but it soon lightens up. Listening just now.
The 6CD DG box set that it's in is a cracker though: lots of interesting not run of the mill stuff included.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7983106--boulez-conducts-stravinsky

If you can stream though, do try the San Francisco/MTT recording I mentioned yesterday (on the What classical......? thread), which I'll certainly return to.
Another five versions in addition to the Boulez listened to today: both Stravinskys in the big box, Craft (the later one, on Naxos), Ansermet, and Saraste.

[pastoralguy]

I’ve always had a liking for the Rattle/CBSO recording that was done on the back of a BBC programme Rattle made about the work. I remember him rehearsing the CBSO and reaching for a metronome that had one of his children’s teeth marks in it!

[HighlandDougie]

If you can stream though, do try the San Francisco/MTT recording I mentioned yesterday (on the What classical......? thread), which I'll certainly return to.

I found the acoustic (I assume Davies Hall) to be a bit barn-like by comparison with the LSO recording from 1993 (a performance - and recording - I really like) but that shouldn't be any reason not to rate equally highly the SFSO recording.

[Pulcinella]

I found the acoustic (I assume Davies Hall) to be a bit barn-like by comparison with the LSO recording from 1993 (a performance - and recording - I really like) but that shouldn't be any reason not to rate equally highly the SFSO recording.

That's on tomorrow's listening list! I remember thinking it pretty good.

[gurnemanz]

Others might disagree, but I find the start just a little too thick/overweight, but it soon lightens up. Listening just now.
The 6CD DG box set that it's in is a cracker though: lots of interesting not run of the mill stuff included.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7983106--boulez-conducts-stravinsky

Having listened to Boulez again, I think I do agree. Especially when I then played my only other CD version, Stravinsky himself on the Sony complete box, which I found much more arresting at the start. His first movement comes in at 9:23 mins compared to Boulez at 9:56. I got the Boulez on a single CD of three Symphonies immediately it came out and find it generally very recommendable.

It's a favourite work and over the years I think I have listened to it more often to via broadcasts than on my own CDs. I clearly remember being bowled over the first time I heard it on Radio Three about fifty years ago. In my cheapskate, penniless state at the time, I recorded the live concert (which also included Schoenberg's powerful 'A Survivor from Warsaw') onto reel-to-reel tape for repeat listening.