The transitional phase between Igor Stravinsky's great ballets (L'Oiseau de feu, Petrushka, and Le Sacre du printemps) and his neoclassical period produced three striking masterpieces, quite varied in style and approach. The suite from L'Histoire du soldat was arranged in 1920 from the full 1918 score, and introduced a lean chamber sound dominated by solo winds, in sharp contrast to the large, lush orchestras Stravinsky had used previously. The ballet cantata Les noces (1923) is closest to the wild, rhythmic impulses and ...
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The transitional phase between Igor Stravinsky's great ballets (L'Oiseau de feu, Petrushka, and Le Sacre du printemps) and his neoclassical period produced three striking masterpieces, quite varied in style and approach. The suite from L'Histoire du soldat was arranged in 1920 from the full 1918 score, and introduced a lean chamber sound dominated by solo winds, in sharp contrast to the large, lush orchestras Stravinsky had used previously. The ballet cantata Les noces (1923) is closest to the wild, rhythmic impulses and ritualistic action that Stravinsky exploited in Le Sacre du printemps, yet it would be the last of his primitivist Russian works. The Octet (1923) dates from the early years of Stravinsky's rethinking of Classical models, which had been inspired by his 1920 ballet, Pulcinella, regarded by many as his first neoclassical piece. Despite the variety of expressions and techniques used in these works, they share a dry, unsentimental tone that sometimes has been described as "objective," or...
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