# Your favourite Stravinsky Symphony?



## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

I think it hasn't been done yet.  

Best regards, Dr


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## Berlioznestpasmort (Jan 24, 2014)

You may have to nix the _Symphonies d'instruments à vent_ - wonderful as it is, as it's large ensemble.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

[SUP][/SUP]


DrKilroy said:


> I think it hasn't been done yet.


I'm sorry to disappoint you, but Stravinsky is not alive anymore to compose another, you have to choose between those you've listed.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Love the Symphony of Psalms.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

In my order of preference:

Symphonies of Wind Instruments (this is properly titled as to its form, I'm not upset it is not having a sonata-allegro, etc. because it right off says it isn't that 

Symphony in C

Symphony of Psalms

ADD P.s. I didn't vote because I would want to click on each of those above three.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Awesome contrabassoon part.*

All of the above.

I have performed the _Symphony of Psalms_. Awsome ending. Playing a low pedal C on the contrabassoon.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Berlioznestpasmort said:


> You may have to nix the _Symphonies d'instruments à vent_ - wonderful as it is, as it's large ensemble.


That is like the a poor soul saying the Scarlatti Sonatas are not really sonatas -- sadly mistaken because they believe the Beethoven Sonatas somehow define "sonata" for hundreds of years, or other none such.

This Stravinsky piece is _Symphonies_ as in _Sinfonia_, but plural: there is no law Symphony or Sinfonia must be for an orchestra of strings, winds and brass, or follow the format used by the classical or romantic composers.

Stravinsky was not some uninformed kid on Youtube who posts their pop contemporary piano tune and calls it a symphony, after all.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Stravinsky's neoclassicism hasn't clicked me yet to the degree that it quickens my pulse, but I have several recordings of the Symphony of Psalms, so that's the logical choice.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Symphony in Three Movements for its startling beginning. It's as if we have dropped the needle (so to speak) down in the middle of a violent development section.


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## Guest (Mar 18, 2014)

Sorry to bump, but I'd rather not make a new thread. I'd like to specifically direct a question at PetrB (who is neat, but who probably feels a little "picked on" by his needy pet arcaneholocaust).

Does the word "symphony" mean anything in a modern setting beyond "work for ensemble/orchestra"? Consider the question likewise for "sonata" for solos/duos/trios. I feel that the word symphony carries a certain significance, but am not sure if it holds any implications for form any more, and would just like to hear the opinion of a more educated poster than myself.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

arcaneholocaust said:


> Sorry to bump, but I'd rather not make a new thread. I'd like to specifically direct a question at PetrB (who is neat, but who probably feels a little "picked on" by his needy pet arcaneholocaust).
> 
> Does the word "symphony" mean anything in a modern setting beyond "work for ensemble/orchestra"? Consider the question likewise for "sonata" for solos/duos/trios. I feel that the word symphony carries a certain significance, but am not sure if it holds any implications for form any more, and would just like to hear the opinion of a more educated poster than myself.


If it does not have some semblance to the structure or variable size of what we think of as symphony, and I do include those overlooked meanings which are valid but are out of the middle common practice box, which was pretty much built about sonatas by an after the fact German musicologist arbitrarily deciding that Beethoven's sonatas defined a form which had been developing for hundreds of years -- the arrogant fool, lol.

Symphony come from sinfonia, which literally means 'sounding together,' This now encompasses works quite strictly following the sonata-allegro opening plus two to four (sometimes more) movements. So... without expecting all the common practice structural gizmos as in-place as a fixed requirement to call it some kind of Symphony or Sinfonia -- Berio's Sinfonia is a symphony, or at least a true sinfonia, Stravinsky's Symphonies of wind instruments is a Symphony - soundings together, and Pierre Boulez' or Jean Barraque's piano sonatas are piano sonatas, alongside the keyboard sonatas by Clementi, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Elliott Carter and D. Scarlatti, for example.

What are not any sort of Symphony, Concerto, or Sonata are almost all of those youthful pieces by the 'contemporary popular music pianist / composer set, who slap the name arbitrarily on some essentially 'epic movie score sounding' or new-age / contemporary popular music genre piece of music, thinking that will dress up the prestige or pump up the importance of their stuff.

Some link, no matter how tentative, should intelligently be applied to the form if you are going to call it by that form. The unlettered and untrained usage of Symphony, Sonata, Concerto and, Apollo forgive them "neoclassical," is so rampant it that it is more than a little frightening to see how far musical illiteracy extends, I'm sure youtube making us aware of much more than we ever knew existed prior its existence 

BTW, there is one school of thought that if you are currently writing while directly or vaguely using any of those formats, then regardless of the musical vocabulary, the work is not technically even 'modern.'


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Quite predictably, most of us voted for the Symphony of Psalms. However, as much as I like Stravinsky, I do prefer Messiaen.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I'm not sure which one I like best. I will consider it a task of mine to get to know them better. I've known fragments of Symphony in C and Symphony in Three Movements for a long time, and once heard Symphony of Psalms live. I remember finding the latter intriguing, but not quite thrilling. I think Shostakovich 4 was on the same program, so it kind of overshadowed it and it's subtleties.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

*Your favourite Stravinsky Symphony? *

I'll take the one written by Igor.









Or ... is it "Eye"-Gor?


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Symphony of Psalms undoubtedly.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Tchaikov6 said:


> Symphony of Psalms undoubtedly.


Amen, brother.
_____________


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