Charles Dutoit conducts the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande.
To hear works in my Neglected Symphonies series, click here.
Charles Dutoit conducts the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande.
To hear works in my Neglected Symphonies series, click here.
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I can’t believe that it’s been 20 years since the LA Phil has performed this work, especially given the amount of other Stravinsky they’ve played in the interim.
It just doesn’t turn up that often in concert … anywhere. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard it live. Maybe 20 years ago when Salonen did it. But that would be it.
They did it at both DCP and the original Segerstrom Hall early that year, then followed it up later that summer at the Bowl. Dudamel was supposed to conduct it at the opening of the 2011 season, but dropped it . . . and that’s the last we’ve heard any hint of it since. I’ve seen “Oedipus Rex” at least 5 times since then, and that would seem to be a much more challenging work to program (if only because of the need for a men’s choir and a competent narrator).
Perhaps it’s neither avant garde enough or listener friendly enough, occupying some netherworld between those two extremes. And maybe the title itself is not flashy enough.
I think the title was provocative enough at the time. Who would write a Symphony in C in 1940?
True dat. . . . Now, you can program the Stravinsky and Terry Riley’s “In C” for the same concert and people might actually not freak out. Maybe.
Such a terrific symphony (although I do like the Symphony in Three Movements better). I do remember Salonen programming this several times including one program that had four Stravinsky symphonies on it. Symphony in C is also very difficult to play and tricky to conduct so that may explain some of the reason for its lack of performances. If I’m not mistaken, Salonen used it for assistant conductor auditions.
Speaking of Stravinsky, it is really nice to once again see Tim’s full name in the LA Times byline. One can only hope that this is a new beginning of a long and increasingly fruitful professional relationship.