Recital

Featuring

Viktoria Mullova
Katia Labèque
Igor Stravinsky
Franz Schubert
Maurice Ravel
Clara Schumann

Did you know?

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Composition History

Igor Stravinsky was initially hesitant to rework music by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi but was swayed when he learned that the production would feature choreography by Léonide Massine and design by Pablo Picasso.

Composition History

Sergei Diaghilev, a Russian art critic and ballet impresario, suggested that Igor Stravinsky draw inspiration from Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, an 18th-century Italian composer, for the ballet Pulcinella.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Igor Stravinsky's Suite Italienne, based on his ballet Pulcinella, was a 'discovery of the past' that set the precedent for his later Neo-classical works.

Compositional Technique

Franz Schubert's Fantasy for violin and piano D934 incorporates one of his own songs, 'Sei mir gegrüsst' (I greet you), within the Andantino variations.

Composition History

Maurice Ravel struggled to complete his Violin Sonata in G, partly due to the premature end of his close friend Hélène Jourdan-Morhange's violin career because of 'rheumatism' or 'motor cramps'.

Historical Context

This album spans 100 years of music, from Schubert's 1827 Fantasy to Stravinsky's 1933 Suite Italienne, showcasing a period of rapid musical change.

Critical Reception

At its premiere, Franz Schubert's Fantasy for violin and piano D934 bewildered audiences and critics, with one reviewer noting that 'The hall emptied gradually…'.