DLXVII. STRAVINSKY, Igor: Concerto for Piano and Wind instruments

DLXVII. STRAVINSKY, Igor (1882-1971)

Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments (1923-24)
1. Largo
2. Largo
3. Allegro
Tamara Stefanovich, piano
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Vladimir Jurowski, cond.
(23:37)

A few years into his so-called "neoclassical" period, Stravinsky wrote this brilliant concerto. He kept the performance rights for himself so that no "incompetent or romantic hands" would ruin the work before an "undiscriminating audience."

First movement

French horns provide a wide-ranging dissonance in their four parts:

better seen in reduction:

This dirge-like music suddenly erupts with the entrance of the soloist:

Stravinsky uses three staffs for the piano part! The music becomes heavily syncopated, with a strong jazz-like feel:

This little theme keeps popping up:

He returns to the original slow tempo, now marked Maestoso:

ending on an unambiguous A Major chord!

Second movement

Another Largo -- this time with a regular 1/8th-note pulse; the three staves make the piano part look like a complicated task -- perhaps this was part of Stravinsky's plan to scare other pianists away from it!

A brilliant cadenza:

Another mini-cadenza before Stravinsky returns to the dirge. The movement attaccas into the final chapter:

Third movement

The soloist plays a jazzy flow of constant 16th-notes, while the accompaniment is in march rhythm. Here the piano bursts into a thick pronouncement of the theme:

Suddenly, a complete stop:

And now Stravinsky returns to the main theme from the first movement:

Eight bars of accented beats brings this to a triumphant close on a C Major chord: