Post by erik on Aug 20, 2022 17:18:06 GMT -5
A melodrama based on a Greek goddess with music by Igor Stravinsky is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Stravinsky: PERSEPHONE
A great deal of the progress of classical music during the 20th century can be laid at the feet of the radical Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. His approaches to rhythm and harmony clearly had an impact on many a composer during the century, much of which included massive orchestration that matched Mahler and Schoenberg for sheer explosive impact. His 1910 ballet The Firebird was the young composer’s first step; and then three years later, his 1913 ballet score The Rite Of Spring caused a mini-riot in Paris for its hugely radical rhythms. He also showed his neo-Classical style in other works like A Soldier’s Tale, Pulcinella, Petrushka, and Apollon Musagete. One of his lesser-known works is, like The Rite Of Spring, based on his love for the season of spring, the 1933 melodrama Persephone, which requires not only a large orchestra, but also a sizeable choral component as well. The story deals with the life of the Greek goddess Persephone, her abduction into Hell, and then her rebirth, making for a seemingly simple, but, in truth, fairly emotionally complex story that, following its world premiere at the Paris Opera on April 30, 1934, with the legendary ballet dancer Ida Rubinstein in the title role, was staged again in Buenos Aires in 1936. While not yet nearly as well known as the composer’s groundbreaking scores of the second decade of the 20th century, at a length of 45-48 minutes, Persephone has started to gain a foothold in terms of recordings, particularly in the composer’s adapted home of America, where he officially became a U.S. citizen in 1945.
Speaker: STEPHANIE COSSERAT
Tenor: STUART NEILL
San Francisco Symphony Chorus
San Francisco Girls Chorus
Ragazzi
Peninsula Boys Chorus
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS (RCA)
Included (3-CD Set)
THE FIREBIRD
THE RITE OF SPRING
Stravinsky: PERSEPHONE
A great deal of the progress of classical music during the 20th century can be laid at the feet of the radical Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. His approaches to rhythm and harmony clearly had an impact on many a composer during the century, much of which included massive orchestration that matched Mahler and Schoenberg for sheer explosive impact. His 1910 ballet The Firebird was the young composer’s first step; and then three years later, his 1913 ballet score The Rite Of Spring caused a mini-riot in Paris for its hugely radical rhythms. He also showed his neo-Classical style in other works like A Soldier’s Tale, Pulcinella, Petrushka, and Apollon Musagete. One of his lesser-known works is, like The Rite Of Spring, based on his love for the season of spring, the 1933 melodrama Persephone, which requires not only a large orchestra, but also a sizeable choral component as well. The story deals with the life of the Greek goddess Persephone, her abduction into Hell, and then her rebirth, making for a seemingly simple, but, in truth, fairly emotionally complex story that, following its world premiere at the Paris Opera on April 30, 1934, with the legendary ballet dancer Ida Rubinstein in the title role, was staged again in Buenos Aires in 1936. While not yet nearly as well known as the composer’s groundbreaking scores of the second decade of the 20th century, at a length of 45-48 minutes, Persephone has started to gain a foothold in terms of recordings, particularly in the composer’s adapted home of America, where he officially became a U.S. citizen in 1945.
Speaker: STEPHANIE COSSERAT
Tenor: STUART NEILL
San Francisco Symphony Chorus
San Francisco Girls Chorus
Ragazzi
Peninsula Boys Chorus
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS (RCA)
Included (3-CD Set)
THE FIREBIRD
THE RITE OF SPRING