Stravinsky concert

Stravinsky concert

This concert, performed on February 7, 9 and 11 in San Francisco, and on February 21 at Carnegie Hall in New York, consists of three Stravinsky works featuring chorus and orchestra: Persephone, Svadebka (The Wedding), and Symphony of Psalms. For further information about the pieces themselves, you can read the program notes, which I also archived.

Each of these pieces has a very different character. Persephone, a musical setting of Homer's version of the Greek myth, is a very quiet, atmospheric, introspective piece. Svadebka is a boisterous description of a Russian peasant wedding, complete with a drunken father, people talking over each other, and general chaos. Symphony of Psalms is an ecstastic prayer, asking for forgiveness and singing the praises of the Lord.

Doing them all in the same program is incredibly difficult as we have to change from the lyrical lines of Persephone, to the dissonant syncopation of Svadebka, to the meditative imploring of Symphony of Psalms. Adding to the degree of difficulty is the fact that the three pieces are in three different languages: French (Persephone), Russian (Svadebka), and Latin (Symphony of Psalms). Truly a virtuoso tour-de-force, demonstrating the range and capability of this chorus. Okay, I'm a little bit biased :).

Some reviews of our initial performance:


Back to Eric's chorus page

Eric Nehrlich's WWW home page / nehrlich@alum.mit.edu