Igor Stravinsky - Cantata, I-III

Cantata, for 2 soloists, female chorus & chamber orchestra (1952)

I. A lyke-wake dirge. Versus 1. Prelude -- This ae nighte
II. Ricercar I. The maidens came
III. A lyke-wake dirge. Versus 2. First interlude -- If ever you gav'st hos'n and shoon
IV. Ricercar II. Sacred History. To-morrow shall be my dancing day
V. A lyke-wake dirge. Versus 3. Second interlude -- From Whinnymuir when thou may'st pass
VI. Westron Wind
VII. A lyke-wake dirge. Versus 4. Postlude -- If ever thou gav'st meat or drink

Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Jan Kobow, tenor

RIAS Kammerchor
musikFabrik
Daniel Reuss

Stravinsky's Cantata (1951 - 52) was written not long after the completion of the composer's final, and greatest, opera, The Rake's Progress (1948 - 51). The text comes from four anonymous, secular English lyrics from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Each of the work's seven sections, with the exception of "Westron Wind" (VI), makes use of canon in some way. It is important to note the title "Ricercar," which specifically denotes a contrapuntal form, for sections II and IV. (However, as Stravinsky points out in a program note, it is not used here in its common meaning as a fugue.) The Cantata is, in fact, typically Stravinskian in its rigorous use of counterpoint. Much of the work also includes a mixture of tonal and modal harmony, another important aspect of the composer's style.

While the use of canon looks back to the tradition of Bach, another dimension of the Cantata is its more modern language, including quasi-serial, Webern-inspired manipulations of musical material which anticipate Stravinsky's embrace of such techniques in the last stage of his career. [Allmusic.com]

Art by Jean-Paul Riopelle

Category:

Music

Tags:

• stravinsky
• cantata
• sampson
• kobow
• musikfabrik
• reuss

[123must]

Estrema propaggine del neoclassicismo strawinskiano. Delizia estrema. Faccio mio proprio questo commento e mi scuso con marioguidoscapucci per il plagio!

Grazie ad entrambi

[marioguidoscappucci]

Estrema propaggine del neoclassicismo strawinskiano. Delizia estrema.