Stravinsky,I. / Seattle Symphony / Morlot,Ludovic - Stravinsky: Petrushka - Debussy: La Boite A - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The young Stravinsky became acquainted with large parts of the Western music repertoire through piano arrangements. That might have been one reason for his later compositional practice to arrange major works for piano duet or for two pianos as well. With the new album InchPetrushkaInch, the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo has achieved it's intention to present a complete collection of Igor Stravinsky's published piano arrangements. The present recording contains two ballets which show Stravinsky's compositional development within the genre the almost film-like burlesque InchPetrushkaInch (1910/11) as well as the abstract late work InchAgonInch (1953/57) which puts the ancient Greek concept of competition into a contradictory musical setting. In addition, it contains two arrangements of concert pieces InchConcertinoInch for string quartet (1920) lives on the alternation between homogeneous instrumental passages and soloistic crossed accents. The orchestral InchScherzo a la RusseInch (1944) as 'jazz commercial' testifies to Stravinsky's adaptation to his life in America as well as to his love of the Russian types of form at the turn of the century. In their recording, Helena Bugallo and Amy Williams present the special charms of Igor Stravinsky's music in 'black and white' The piano arrangements reflect the sheer brilliance of his oeuvre in a concentrated form.

Adam Fischer writes of Mahler's 8th Symphonie InchMahler's Eighth is a special challenge for all participants in rehearsals, in performance, and, of course, when making a recording. The challenge lies in freeing the music from all of the technical and logistical problems that come with it. Whenever new possibilities emerged in music history (such as new musical instruments), composers tended to introduce the novelty quite frequently in the first phase to show it's potential. A good example was the Mannheim School in the 1700s. The crescendo had just been invented musicians no longer had to play dynamics in Inchterraced levels.Inch Mannheim pieces from that period are thus brimming with crescendos musicians reveled in the new possibilities. Mahler, later on, wanted to explore the possibilities of an orchestra of unprecedented size, particularly in the Eighth. The effects made possible by such an enlargement should not become an end in themselves. That is the special challenge we have faced. If on this recording we have over 500 people singing and playing together, that is only a means, not an end...Inch

Stravinsky / Nikolaev / Seattle Symphony / Morlot - Stravinsky The Firebird / Vladimir Nikolaev The Sinewaveland [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/11/2016