STRAWINSKY: Works for violin & piano

Bratchkova, Dora, Meyer-Hermann, Andreas, Orvieto, Aldo, Popova,Violeta

CPO 999941

in 1930, Igor Stravinsky met the American violinist Samuel Dushkin (1891-1976) in Wiesbaden. The meeting took place at the suggestion of the publisher Willy Strecker, who was hoping for a violin concerto from Stravinsky. The composer had particular reservations about violinists: "I feared finding the qualities of the virtuoso in Dushkin, ... but he was a rare exception among his professional peers." Stravinsky learned from Dushkin what it meant to play the violin, and Dushkin learned from Stravinsky ... to play Stravinsky. The understanding went so far that both went on tour as a chamber music duo from 1932 to 1934. The prerequisite for this was, of course, a proper program. This resulted in the following three works for violin and piano: the Suite italienne based on the commedia dell'arte ballet Pulcinella, a further stage of those effective arrangements whose models Strawinsky must have considered to be pure Pergolesi due to the musicological knowledge of the time. The Divertimento then strikes a romantic note after the baroqueizing suite. He used his ballet "Le baiser de la fée" as a model. The most important work, however, is the large five-movement Duo concertant, an original work. "My preference for the bucolic poets of antiquity determined the spirit and form of my Concertante Duo," said Stravinsky about this fascinating, crystal-clear work.

Works:

•Stravinsky: Divertimento (transcription for violin & piano by Stravinsky & Samuel Dushkin from Le Baiser de la Fée)
•Stravinsky: Duo concertant
•Stravinsky: Suite italienne

CD x 1

CPO

14/11/2003

761203994120