Word: gelhorn
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...minute work for six vocal soloists with chorus and full orchestra-but with no trumpets, and a Flügelhorn and alto trombone added-was presented by Venice's International Festival of contemporary music. Stravinsky's text and title-Threni, id est Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae (Threnody: Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah)-come from three of the familiar elegies from the Catholic Vulgate Bible. Written in the tone-row technique that Stravinsky once scorned but has lately adopted, the work has a spare, transparent orchestral accompaniment that for long stretches consists of no more than an occasional chord...
Threni opens with the chorus singing mournfully over the sighing orchestra, gradually builds to a moving tenor solo, accompanied by the Flügelhorn, to the text, "Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress." In one passage of labyrinthine difficulty the two tenors and two basses sing two separate canons simultaneously. Except for the second section of the third elegy, the tempo is funereal, and throughout the mood is unrelievedly austere. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the piece is that despite the rigidities of the tone-row technique (and for the first time Stravinsky used all twelve tones...
Since records from Russia are about as rare as obbligatos for flügelhorn, U.S. music lovers have little chance to judge the quality of Russian orchestras and virtuosos. Last week, for a change, a few fresh pressings of made-in-Russia recordings were on sale. None of the recordings (issued by Collosseum Records) is brandnew, but all are interesting. Outstanding items...
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