Pastorale, song without words for violin & woodwind quartet

• Date: 1933
• Composer: Igor Stravinsky
• Period: Modern (1910-1949)

Review

Stravinsky's Pastorale, a song without words for soprano and piano, was composed at the Stravinsky family's estate in Ustilug, Ukraine. in 1907. It is one of a group of early works written under the supervision of Rimsky-Korsakov (the work is even dedicated to Rimsky's daughter Nadia). Unlike his other early works -- the Symphony in E flat major (1905 - 1907), Op. 1, or the Scherzo fantastique (1907), the Pastorale not only bears no opus number, it bears none of Rimsky's compositional fingerprints. A limpid and poised vocal line set above a simple yet asymmetrical piano accompaniment, the Pastorale seems much more like a work from Stravinsky's cool objective maturity than his subjective and (relatively) hot-blooded youth. Compare the Tchaikovsky- and Wagner-influenced sensuality of the songs of Faune et Bergère (Faun and Shepherdess) of 1906 with the restrained Pastorale: the one could only have been written by the young Stravinsky, while the other could have been written any time between 1920 and 1940. Indeed, Stravinsky did re-set the Pastorale several times: first in 1923 for soprano and four wind instruments, then for violin and piano in 1933, and again for violin and four wind instruments in 1933. The violin versions were accomplished with the aid of Samuel Dushkin, the soloist at the premiere of the Violin Concerto (1931). Both are slightly longer than the earlier soprano versions but otherwise leave the music unchanged. ~ James Leonard, Rovi

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
Anything Goes	2000
Classic Branford Marsalis	2008
Composers In Person [Box Set]	2008
Igor Stravinsky, Vol. 5	2001
Igor Stravinsky: Histoire du Soldat; Pastorale for soprano; Pastorale for violin; Four Songs; etc.	2000
Igor Stravinsky: The Recorded Legacy	1991
Johann Strauss: Walzer	2002
Joseph Szigeti Plays Prokofiev & Stravinsky	2003
Joseph Szigeti: Violin	2001
Masters of the Oboe	2006
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite; Skryabin: Le Poème de l'extase	1996
Natural Escapes	2003
Out of Russia	1997
Ragtime: Stravinsky Chamber Works	1996
Retrospectacular	2008
Stokowski conducts Liadov & Stravinsky
Stokowski: Petrushka/The Firebird, Suite/Pastorale/Shostakovich: Perlude In E Flat Minor
Stravinsky Collection, Vol. 1	2000
Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky
Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky
Stravinsky: Chamber Music & Historical Recordings	1991
Stravinsky: Histoire du Soldat	2001
Stravinsky: Histoire du Soldat (Suite); Renard	2007
Stravinsky: L'oiseau de feu No2; Duo Concertante	1991
Stravinsky: Works for Chamber Orchestra	1996
The Art of Robert Bloom: Music for Oboe and Strings, Vol. 2	2000
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra Wind Quintet 1977-2007	2007
The Essential Igor Stravinsky	2003
The Original Philadelphia Woodwind Quintet: 20th Century	2001
Toward the Sea	1993
Works of Igor Stravinsky	2007

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