Stravinsky / Ramuz: The Soldier's Tale / Dumbarton Oaks

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Cat No: 8553662

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099466226

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: STRAVINSKY / RAMUZ

Description
IgorStravinsky (1882-1971) & Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz (1878-1947) The Soldier's Tale Igor Stravinsky Concerto in E flat (Dumbarton Oaks)Igor Stravinsky was the son of adistinguished bass soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, creatorof important roles in new operas by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. He wasborn, the third of four sons, at Oranienbaum on the Gulf of Finland in thesummer of 1882. In childhood his ability in music did not seem exceptional, buthe was able to study privately with Rimsky-Korsakov, who became a particularlyimportant influence after the death of the composer's strong-minded father in1902. He completed a degree in law in 1905, married in the following year andincreasingly devoted himself to music. Stravinsky's first significant successcame when the impresario Dyagilev, a distant relative on his mother's side ofthe family, commissioned from him the ballet The Firebird, firstperformed in Paris in 1910. This was followed by the very Russian Petrushka in1911 for the Dyagilev Ballets russes, with which he was now closelyassociated, leading, in 1913, to the notorious first performance of The Riteof Spring, first staged, like the preceding ballets, in Paris. Althoughcollaboration with Dyagilev was limited during the war, when Stravinsky livedprincipally in Switzerland, it was resumed with the ballet Pulcinella in1920, marking the composer's association with neo-classicism. The collaborationwith Dyagilev ended with what the latter described as a macabre present, OedipusRex, with a text by Cocteau, intended to mark the twentieth anniversary ofDyagilev's career as an impresario, in 1927.Stravinsky has been compared to his nearcontemporary Picasso, the painter who provided decor for Pulcinella andwho, through a long career, was to show mastery of a number of differentstyles. Stravinsky's earlier music was essentially Russian in inspiration,followed by a style of composition derived largely from the eighteenth century,interspersed with musical excursions in other directions. His neo- classicismcoincided with the beginning of a career that was now international. Theinitial enthusiasm for the Russian revolution of 1917 that had led evenDyagilev to replace the crown and sceptre in The Firebird with a red flag,was soon succeeded by distaste for the new regime and the decision not toreturn to Russia.In 1934 Stravinsky had taken out Frenchcitizenship but five years later, with war imminent in Europe, he moved to theUnited States, where he had already enjoyed considerable success. The death ofhis first wife allowed him to marry a woman with whom he had enjoyed a longearlier association and the couple settled in Hollywood, where the climateseemed congenial. Income from his compositions was at last safeguarded by hisassociation with the publishers Boosey and Hawkes in 1945, the year of hisnaturalisation as an American citizen. 1951 saw the completion and firstperformance of the English opera The Rake's Progress, a work that markedt
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