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24 woodwind and brass instruments . In 1947 , Stravinsky returned to the work and extensively revised it ; this is the version we ’ ll hear tonight .
Symphonies of Wind Instruments ’ title is misleading , for the piece is not in symphonic form at all . Instead , Stravinsky was thinking of the word “ symphony ” in its ancient sense of “ groups of instruments sounding together .” The composer described it as “ an austere ritual which is unfolded in terms of short litanies between homogeneous instruments .” In Stravinsky scholar Stephen Walsh ’ s words , “ Stravinsky … used color , in the form of sharply distinguished sonorities , to make his shapes stand out clearly from one another ,” much as cubist artists defined paintings with blocks of colors .
A composer of today , John Harbison , has given us helpful imagery for listening to this work : “ All the ideas are presented in stages , intercut with other ideas . These fragments are unequal in length , weight and color . The piece is like a film … in which 15 or so shots are alternated to form a pattern . It is a harmonious mosaic of complementary images .”
The striking of a shrill , dissonant bell motive opens the piece and returns frequently to punctuate the contrasting sections . Everything leads towards the final chorale — the first section Stravinsky wrote — with the brass instruments occasionally intervening with preview snatches of it . In the last section , the brass finally present the full chorale in steady , slow-moving chords , the woodwinds eventually joining them in poignant mourning for Debussy .
Instrumentation : Three flutes , two oboes , English horn , three clarinets , three bassoons including contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba .
Piano Concerto No . 4 in G Major
Ludwig van Beethoven
Born in Bonn , Germany , December 16 , 1770 ; died in Vienna , Austria , March 26 , 1827
While Beethoven largely followed Mozart ’ s beautiful models in his first two piano concertos , he probably realized this golden vein had been mined out . With his final three , he searched for new sources of inspiration . And of these last concertos , the most daring , the most innovative — even though it is also the quietest and most introspective — is the Fourth Piano Concerto in G Major , completed in 1806 .
That this work should be both so radical and so gentle seems a paradox . The mood throughout the first two movements is subdued and reflective . And Beethoven used a small orchestra : strings and woodwinds for the first movement , strings only for the second , two trumpets and timpani added for the finale . Yet the work is indeed revolutionary from its very opening bars .
The soloist is the leader and provocateur in driving this movement forward .
First Movement : The beginning of the concerto is unprecedented . The soloist begins alone , introducing the principal theme in hushed , rich chords in the home key of G . Another surprise : the orchestra answers the piano , but in a questioning manner in the remote key of B Major . Like so many of Beethoven ’ s most productive motives , this theme is as much a rhythmic pattern — three short , stabbing notes leading to a sustained note ( shades of the Fifth Symphony !) — as a melodic one . By just quoting the rhythm throughout this sonata-form movement , Beethoven will be able to conjure up the theme while allowing himself free range for development .
The soloist is the leader and provocateur in driving this movement forward . Not only does the pianist begin the movement , he also interrupts the orchestra ’ s completion of the exposition to begin the development section by restating the principal theme , and throughout incites the orchestra to new deeds of harmonic daring . And he introduces the recapitulation with a bold , lavishly embellished version of his quiet opening statement .
The second movement , in E minor , is the work ’ s most extraordinary . Commentators from the mid-19 th century on ( including Franz Liszt ) have agreed that it must have been inspired by the Greek legend of Orpheus venturing into the underworld in search of his wife , Euridice , and bewitching the infernal gods with his music . Beethoven may have been inspired by Gluck ’ s famous opera Orfeo ed Euridice or by a forgotten one by the composer ’ s friend Friedrich August Kanne . Beethoven ’ s pupil Carl Czerny tells us that his works were often “ inspired by … visions or pictures from his reading or from his own lively imagination ” although the composer “ was reluctant to speak on this matter except on a few occasions when he was in a confiding mood .”
The movement takes the form of a dialogue between the strings — representing the Furies in brusque , staccato-rhythm octaves — and the pianist as Orpheus , entreating them with softly singing , beautifully harmonized phrases . Toward the end , the soloist plays a remarkable passage that sounds like a magical incantation , a sustained trill that throws off eerie , chromatically descending scale figures . Spellbound , the orchestra is finally subdued ; only the cellos and basses protest faintly with an echo of their fierce opening .
The finale is a rondo , full of wit and energy , but its extensive developmental passages give it more musical substance than the conventional 18 th -century rondo finale . A lyrical second theme introduced by the piano provides contrast ; it is answered by the orchestra singing in rich counterpoint . Beethoven accelerates to Presto for a whirlwind finish .
Instrumentation : Flute , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , two horns , two trumpets , timpani , strings .
Symphony No . 6 in B minor , “ Pathétique ”
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Born in Votkinsk , Russia , May 7 , 1840 ; died in St . Petersburg , Russia , November 6 , 1893
Tchaikovsky ’ s last and greatest symphony , the “ Pathétique ,” with its dark and
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