Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Greeting Prelude (1955)
Symphony in C (1938-1940)
Divertimento (1934, revised 1949)
Circus Polka (1942-1944)
Symphony in Three Movements (1942-1945)
BBC Philharmonic/Sir Andrew Davis
rec. 2019/2020, MediaCityUK, Salford, Manchester, UK
CHANDOS CHSA5315 SACD [83]
Stravinsky’s works from his neo-classical period are among his most exhilarating, but they can be tricky to pull off. The conductor must do full justice to the punch and crackle of the rhythms but also maintain the sense of wit, of lightness and often of grace. I have heard too many performances of the two symphonies here which fall down on one or another of these aspects. This recording, however, is the best I have heard for many a long year.
We begin with the Greeting Prelude, Stravinsky’s version of Happy Birthday, written for eightieth birthday of the conductor Pierre Monteux. Eric Walter White points out that Stravinsky subjected this simple tune to a number of serial devices, including canons, inversion and retrograde movement. None of this need trouble the listener, for whom it is both an enjoyable squib and completely characteristic of its composer.
I find the Symphony in C an enigmatic work. Stravinsky had avoided anything approaching typical symphonic form since an apprentice work of his youth. The Symphonies of Wind Instruments is not remotely symphonic and the Symphony of Psalms is a choral work, though both are masterpieces. So this symphony comes as a surprise; it is indeed, one of the surprisingly few straight concert works he wrote that did not have its origin in something else, such as a ballet or a choral work. Yet here we have a four movement work, for a normal orchestra, which nevertheless eschews the traditional symphonic devices associated with the Viennese school but instead uses ostinati, short motifs, rhythmic vitality and pungent harmonies. The conductor Ernest Ansermet said that the first movement was ‘no more than the portrait of a symphonic Allegro.’ This may be right, but it is still an attractive piece and so is the rest of the work, with a charming slow movement, ‘a dream of baroque pastoral’ as the excellent sleevenote by Paul Griffiths says, a highly syncopated scherzo and a vivacious finale. I must put in a word for the fine playing by the principal oboe.
The Divertimento which follows is a suite taken from the ballet The Fairy’s Kiss, itself drawing on songs and piano pieces by Tchaikovsky and dramatizing The Ice Maiden, a story by Hans Andersen. I have to say that I find the complete ballet one of Stravinsky’s few disappointing works and not a patch on Pulcinella, based on music by Pergolesi. However, I enjoyed this Divertimento more than I had expected to, thanks to the brio and zip of the performance.
The Circus Polka is another squib, the result of a commission to write a ballet for circus elephants. It was originally scored for a circus band but Stravinsky rewrote it for orchestra. It is not very polka-like – and apparently the elephants did not like it – but is a splendidly raucous piece, and the quotation of Schubert’s Marche Militaire is a moment of pure joy.
The Symphony in Three Movements, despite originating in music cast off from other projects, has nevertheless always seemed to me an entirely satisfying work. The first movement, with its rhythmic drive and concertante piano (and a passage nicked from Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta of a few years earlier) has always been easiest to bring off. The slow movement with its concertante part for the harp is tricky to balance, even though Stravinsky here dispenses with most of the brass, but here is charming and effective. The finale can seem bitty and episodic but Davis brings a sense of unity and purpose to it.
These are excellent performances. For the symphonies they are the best I have heard since an old version by Andrew Davis’s near namesake Colin Davis. I was listening to the recording in two channel stereo, on which it sounded fine, but my colleague Roy Westbrook, whose review is referenced below, heard it in surround sound. I have already praised the sleevenote. Let’s have more Stravinsky from this team.
Stephen Barber
Previous review: Roy Westbrook
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