i'm sitting at a picnic table beneath an outdoor overhang at the park, waiting for simon to finish a summer basketball session. i really need to shower. the cool wind feels good on my oily skin, which is acting like a protective sheath. good thing nobody is out here looking at me, aside from the thankfully uninterested parks & rec people.
i’ve never heard this complete work before. i like stravinsky’s writing; his use of color
combinations, adventurous lines, crafty harmonic movement, and drive. there is a lot of music I’ve never heard – an
embarrassing amount, actually. this is
the summer i get even further out of my box and embrace the world around
me. yesterday was me learning how to shoot
while my son drives the car in his new “fast and furious” xbox game. today is rite of spring.
my faves, the bad plus, are doing a version of this for their
trio. i want to hear the real deal
before learning their reimagination. i
know a bunch of old school soul music from hip hop samples, and want to dig
around and understand the musical origins of other things along with their path
traveled. bill evans said that those who
look furthest into the future are also reaching the furthest back into the past. establish a balance, get informed, and take action
(but don’t wait around for this magic recipe to show itself).
harbingers of spring -
i really like the immediate and challenging use of the winds. this primal string rhythm throbs, firmly
establishing a vibe for the entire work.
go flutes!!! I like the bow
attacks on the strings, the passing lines that require you to really count and
see the continuation of the idea.
reminds me of wayne gretzky, talking about how he became a hockey
whiz. the great one
separated himself
from the pack by being able to see three plays ahead. bobby fischer would tell his opponents that
they should forfeit instead of getting beat.
spring khorovod - man,
I bet brass players like playing this. everybody
probably likes playing this. cool bottom lines in the lower
woodwinds. robust advanced counterpoint
to the floaty string chorus and the obligatory french horn passages. why do they get all the good parts? blasty brass always
sounds good when it doesn’t splatter and sacrifice pitch.
CSO has got that on lock. pedal in the flutes while woodwinds
transition into games of the rival
tribes. inventive.
i love the moving parts within. i started out singing in vocal jazz and, as
much as I hated the actual singing part, i fell for certain arrangers (gene
puerling, clare fischer, the take six guys) that would actually give something
to the tenors and altos. it keeps the
players engaged, the audience fighting for detailed understanding, and all insisting upon repeated
performances and listens.
wise elder - damn,
this one is cool. great rhythmic
articulations, counting, dramatic percussion lines, heavy (in the head) shift
to dense ideas at the sacrifice:
introduction. so far, the rhythmic
stuff and the thickness, stick-to-your-ribs ensemble writing is carrying the
work. the meat is usually found in melodic
heroics, but that has yet to carry me through.
and – news flash – CSO is pretty good.
woah. i bet ozawa is gearing up
for his second wind in this movement.
not that you take any plays off so to speak, but the
orchestra can shape these phrases and cover you while you rehydrate and get
back in to the game.
mystic circles of the
young girls – beautiful round lush playing in the upper strings. alto flute?
woodwinds huddle up and attack again.
here come the strings, finally getting a brief sniff of the action. great writing, crunchy voicings. passing around the short melodic idea,
allowing it to naturally adjust with the new orchestratioi pairings.
glorification of the
chosen victim – here comes
the gist of the opening material, with a new twist. this is amazing. how have I not heard this before? the slips in the high voices, the emphatically argumentative response in the middle voices, the deep sawing by the bass section. so good.
tribal, african, comprehensive. i
wonder how many times people played these lines for stravinsky, with different
lineups and players, so he could evaluate and hear new things and revise? thank goodness there wasn’t a finale playback
to kill the creative juices needed for such a seminal work as this.
time is flying by in this work. i usually steer clear of longer pieces
because i stink at focusing for big stretches of time, but this is cruising
through my ears. bass
clarinet is hard, so i’m appreciating the music and the musicianship with both
barrels. and i’m a sucker for pizzicato,
especially when it is accentuated with percussion that isn’t overbearing.
stravinsky is allowing you to join him for the climax, not
giving it away or shoving it down your throat.
I’m buying it hook, line, and sinker.
slow play. quick crests in the
cymbals and matching dynamic crescendos in the brass cumulate to take you to
the top. love the quick flute ditty and
half-hearted string tremolo before getting whapped over the head with the final
blow.
this recording of CSO with seiji ozawa (who i thought only conducted
boston) belongs to the wife. i am lucky
to have a built-in cross disciplinary library and real life resource to open my
eyes to new music. i need to know my
stuff better, but want to know everyone else’s simultaneously. visual, theatrical, literary, musical,
philosophical. it’s a big world out
there and a short life we lead. giddyup.
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