Stravinsky’s spectacular early ballet scores such as Le Sacre du Printemps can sometimes distract us from where this amazing artist went next. Classical music and opera expert Saul Lilienstein examines a selection of the classically inspired masterworks Stravinsky composed between 1918 and 1951.
Works explored include L’Histoire du Soldat of 1918, which compresses the rhythmic vitality of his earlier large ballet scores into a miniature masterwork for just seven instruments; the Bach-inspired Octet for Winds of 1923; the 1928 operae-oratorio Oedipus Rex, which Leonard Bernstein called the “most awesome product” of Stravinsky’s neoclassical period; and the Symphony of Psalms, one of the greatest choral works of the last century.
One session is devoted to the composer’s fruitful relationship with George Balanchine, which began in 1928 with Apollo (a ballet in the 18th-century French tradition) and continued through the rest of his life. Another focuses on Stravinsky in America: How his culture changed his world view and how he changed ours. The closing program turns to the opera The Rake’s Progress of 1951, which was Stravinsky’s brilliant farewell to classicism.
Each session features outstanding performances captured in musical and video recordings. Lilienstein also provides a portrait of a man and a conductor through a series of film excerpts of Stravinsky in conversation with other artists.
May 28 Toward Neoclassicism and Italian Comedy
L’Histoire du Soldat; Octet for Winds; Pulcinella
June 4 Stravinsky, Cocteau, and Koussevitzky
Oedipus Rex; Symphony of Psalms
June 11 Stravinsky and Balanchine
Apollo; Violin Concerto; Orpheus
June 18 Stravinsky in America
Ebony Concerto; Symphony in Three Movements; Mass
June 25 A Culminating Work
The Rake’s Progress
5 sessions
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