Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
to
L'Auditori Lepant 150, 08013 Barcelona
Image courtesy of L' Auditori
Symphony of Psalms is one of the works most representative of a period in which Igor Stravinsky, who had long moved on from his Rite of Spring, sought inspiration in the European tradition, a process that began with his Octet for Wind Instruments (1923). It is a highly polished choral symphony infused with strong religious sentiment. In its splendor, we can appreciate the tranquil return home that Milan Kundera spoke about in reference to this creative stage by the Russian composer.
Desolation is expressed through sound. Few 20th-century works have such a capacity to unsettle us as Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima by Krzysztof Penderecki, a work that earned him international fame. The Polish composer infuses this wordless lament with huge expressive potential through quarter tones, big masses of sound and random features.
Karol Szymanowski is a composer who merits greater recognition than he actually achieved, given the quality, originality and influence of his work. His fascinating Violin Concerto No. 1 is a brilliant example of this, and it marked a turning point in the genre's history when it premiered in Warsaw one hundred years ago.
Fratres (Siblings) exudes all the monastic spirituality of "tintinnabuli," the term coined by Arvo Pärt to define contemplative music built on the most rudimentary materials.
Program
- Krzysztof Penderecki: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1961) 9'
- Karol Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35 (1916) 26'
- Arvo Pärt: Fratres (1977) 10'
- Igor Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms (1930) 20'
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