Further Details

Title: Classics Explained: The Rite of Spring (Siepmann)
Condition: New
Format: CD
EAN: 0636943808528
Edition: Album
Genre: Classical
Style: 20th Century
Release Date: 07/07/2003
No Of Discs: 2
Artist: Igor Stravinsky
Run Time: 154
Record Label: Naxos
Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Conductor: Alexander Rahbari
Performer Orchestra: BRT Philharmonic Orchestra
MPN: 8558085-86
Release Year: 2003
Tracks:

Disc 1
1: Introduction, background and perspective
2: A gentle, other-worldly start; no sign of the violence to come
3: Music as mosaic; the composer as constructor
4: Two functions of metrical change: going with the flow...
5: ...or disrupting it: a sample of metrical violence
6: A stealthy entry (clarinets)
7: Detour: the destabilising properties of chromaticism
8: On melodies, themes and motifs
9: The new cor anglais motif dominates
10: The oboe's rhythmic motif takes over
11: A primeval awakening
12: A panoply of Stravinskyan birdsong
13: A matter of mode
14: Cue to Introduction
15: Introduction (complete)
16: The 'Rite of Spring' chord
17: The great arrival: bitonality
18: Putting the boot in: a metrical mugging
19: The prevalence of ostinatos, and a righting of wrongs
20: Metre restored (briefly) but the 'savage motif' returns
21: The musical savages routed
22: An important new arrival (the 'horn motif')
23: Another new theme from the horns
24: A crowded conclusion
25: A real study in contrasts
26: Panic and pandemonium as timpani open fire
27: Climactic melee haunted by 'fear motif'
28: Suddenly another world, as flutes hover over harmonic vapour...
29: ...but a transient one: new movement arises from the deep
30: 'Dragging feet motif' over ostinato violins, twice interrupted
31: 'Marching motif' developed further by flutes and horns
32: A trilling commentary from piccolo and high clarinet
33: 'Marching motif' theme goes polymetric in huge crescendo
34: An unexpected change of pace as tempo doubles
35: And an unexpected reversion, to a quiet close
36: Violent onslaught from brass and timpani launches in 'Rival Tribes'
37: Rival Tribes, rival motifs
38: Sensational violence comes close to chaos
39: Effects, impressions and alteration
40: A surprise re-entry and a change of instrumental clothing
41: A thinning of texture, a new idea, and a rude interruption
42: The new idea developed: a minor earthquake
43: The use of tone colour as an agent of rhythm
44: An unusual climax...
45: ... and a sinister transition
46: Across the threshold into an instrumental population explosion
47: A sudden silence and then another world
48: Catapulted into the 'Dance of the Earth'
49: Tiny changes, unyielding ostinatos, massive tension
50: Cue to Part One complete
51: Part One (complete)

Disc 2
1: Again a muted, subtly coloured start
2: Tone colour as atmosphere - the strings' motif
3: Four solo violas, above gently rocking strings
4: A pregnant pause, and a new motif in muted trumpets
5: Motif from the Introduction varied and extended
6: New motif, heralded by clarinets and violins, is introduced by alto flute
7: Variant of Motif No. 2 given out by two clarinets
8: Continued by oboes and bassoons; new motif in violins, cellos and bass clarinet
9: Main motifs yield to new idea from flutes
10: All change - direction, tone colour, metre - and two new ostinatos
11: Motif No. 1 returns in horn, then passed to flutes and strings
12: Texture, balance and tone colour keep changing
13: Instrumental enrichment, new counterpoint and a bleat of alarm
14: New derivative of Motif No. 2, a host of new sounds - and again the bleat
15: Into the finishing stretch, and we know we're in for something big
16: Putting the movement back together again
17: Mystic Circles of the Young Girls (complete)
18: On into one of the most sensational movements ever written
19: The violence is almost graphic. An example of musical terrorism
20: Motif No. 2: a terrible, off-beat oom-pah from strings, horns and oboes
21: The air is filled with the fearsome baying of wind and violins
22: A variant of Motif No. 2, but now descending
23: A study in the brutality of suspense - a musical mugging
24: The middle section begins with a massive but unequal confrontation
25: Against the odds, the 'descending motif' comes out on top
26: In the midst of the fray, a new 'rising motif' emerges...
27: ... and undergoes a typically Stravinskyan expansion and compression
28: A much-needed breath before the movement entire
29: Glorification of the Chosen One (complete)
30: The next movement consists of a single, chordal motif, three times varied
31: The second statement: breaking the metrical flow
32: At last the establishment of a clear and steady beat, but will it last?
33: A counterpoint of ostinatos lends continuity to changing time signatures
34: Horns introduce the first real motif, destabilised by multiple metres
35: The motif disappears, though the background ostinato continues
36: A change of mood, then the whole orchestra crashes in
37: The steady pulse gives way to a tossed salad of one-bar motifs
38: Lately abandoned, the steady pulse returns, as does the 'trumpet motif'
39: The movement ends with a varied reprise of the opening
40: Evocation of the Ancestors (complete) and Ritual Action of the Ancestors (complete)
41: The last movement is based on two motifs, the first most notable for its rhythm
42: The second motif is likewise predominantly rhythmical in effect
43: Two variants: one a rhythmic simplicfication, the other an expansion
44: A new section, again with two main motifs, the first from wind and strings
45: This is joined by another brief but very striking motif from muted brass
46: Tension dramatically increased by a violent interruption from timpani and gong
47: Motif No. 2 is passed from bassoons to high wind and trumpets...
48: ... and is twice interrupted by horns
49: Motif No. 1 erupts in full orchestra, then all hell breaks loose
50: New ostinato, over implacable repetitions of Motif No. 1, offset by clarinets
51: A new section, kick-started by percussion: timpani, bass drum and gong
52: Horns, doubled by strings, introduce the main idea of this new section
53: The return of the movement's opening section - or so we may think
54: Dramatic compression of now-familiar material
55: A terrifying cocktail of motifs old and new confounds expectations...
56: ... and leads to the coda, the final flourish of the whole work
57: Cue to all of Part Two and end of CD
58: Part Two (complete)

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