Pastorale, song without words for voice & piano

• Date: 1907
• Composer: Igor Stravinsky
• Period: Romantic (1820-1869)

Review

Stravinsky's Pastorale, a song without words for soprano and piano, was composed at the Stravinsky family's estate in Ustilug, in 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 one from 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. ~ James Leonard, Rovi

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
Igor Stravinsky: Histoire du Soldat; Pastorale for soprano; Pastorale for violin; Four Songs; etc.	2000
Infinite Voice	2006
Of Challenge and Of Love	1997
Romances for Saxophone	1986
Songs My Mother Taught Me
Songs of the Romantic Age	1994
Stravinsky: Chamber Works & Rarities	2003
Stravinsky: Songs	2005
Victoria de los Angeles Performs Scarlatti, Handel, Schubert	2002

Albums with Excerpt Performances of the Work

Title	Date
L.A. Guitar Quartet Recital

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