Stravinsky: Octet for Winds
Even in the context of a general trend of increasing specificity in musical notation over time, Igor Stravinsky stands out as a touchstone of an especially micromanaged notational style. Rare in his scores are notes unadorned with meticulous articulation, dynamic or character instructions, a reflection of the composer’s hostility to any interpretation on the performer’s part. In a discussion of the present Octet for Winds, Stravinsky wrote, “To interpret a piece is to realise its portrait, and what I demand is the realisation of the piece itself and not of its portrait.” Rather, Stravinsky conceived of performers as “executants” of the composer’s emotive object, and in the Octet he steered clear of what he thought overly expressive string instruments, “less cold and more vague” than their wind cousins. As one of Stravinsky’s early forays into neoclassicism, the 1923 Octet sounds strikingly buttoned-up next to the primitivism of The Rite of Spring from the previous decade, but its angular melodic lines and hobbling pulse betray Stravinsky’s sardonic take on past forms.
© Graeme Steele Johnson for Chamber Music Northwest
Even in the context of a general trend of increasing specificity in musical notation over time, Igor Stravinsky stands out as a touchstone of an especially micromanaged notational style. Rare in his scores are notes unadorned with meticulous articulation, dynamic or character instructions, a reflection of the composer’s hostility to any interpretation on the performer’s part. In a discussion of the present Octet for Winds, Stravinsky wrote, “To interpret a piece is to realise its portrait, and what I demand is the realisation of the piece itself and not of its portrait.” Rather, Stravinsky conceived of performers as “executants” of the composer’s emotive object, and in the Octet he steered clear of what he thought overly expressive string instruments, “less cold and more vague” than their wind cousins. As one of Stravinsky’s early forays into neoclassicism, the 1923 Octet sounds strikingly buttoned-up next to the primitivism of The Rite of Spring from the previous decade, but its angular melodic lines and hobbling pulse betray Stravinsky’s sardonic take on past forms.
© Graeme Steele Johnson for Chamber Music Northwest