Episodes
| Series | Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 01 | Looking West | 20090622 | 20110314 (R3) | From 1939 until his death in New York in 1971 Stravinsky made America his home. This week Donald Macleod explores this final chapter of the composer's life, looking at the impact his American experiences had on Stravinsky and his works. In the first programme, 'Looking West', Donald looks at Stravinsky's final years in Europe, when he was already composing works for American patrons, and leading a complicated private life, with his family ensconced in a grand chateau in South-Eastern France, and his mistress Vera in a Paris apartment. The tragic loss of his daughter, wife Katya and mother Anna within a few months in 1938 led him to feel that he no longer had ties to Paris, and he set sail for America in the autumn of 1939. Donald Macleod looks at the years prior to Stravinsky's leaving Europe for America. |
| 2009 | 02 | Wartime In Hollywood | 20090623 | 20110315 (R3) | Donald Macleod explores Stravinsky's early years in America. |
| 2009 | 03 | Craft | 20090624 | 20110316 (R3) | Donald Macleod traces Stravinsky's relationship with conductor Robert Craft. |
| 2009 | 04 | A New Method | 20090625 | 20110317 (R3) | Donald Macleod examines Stravinsky's attempts to keep up with the musical avant-garde. |
| 2009 | 05 LAST | Return To Europe | 20090626 | 20110318 (R3) | Donald Macleod describes Stravinsky's emotional return to his Russian homeland. |
| 2014 | 01 | Recollections Of A Childhood | 20140804 | Donald Macleod explores Stravinsky's childhood musical experiences, growing up in late-19th century St Petersburg. Igor Stravinsky was one of the most brilliant, daring and influential musical thinkers of the early 20th century - a composer who forged new musical horizons and scandalised high society. But it wasn't always that way... Stravinsky was, in fact, a relatively late starter - no musical prodigy here - and his earliest musical works show no hint of the coruscating modernism that was to make him the most famous composer in the world. Instead, we find charming, witty and delightful music in the great Russian tradition of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Mussorgsky - compositions often sadly overlooked in the great swirl of publicity that surrounded his trio of great ballets, The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite Of Spring. This week, Donald Macleod explores the world of 'Young Igor', presenting a rare hearing of Stravinsky's fine early compositions and a selection of rarities as we follow the composer's development up to the end of the First World War. He also presents two rare and unusual versions of Stravinsky's iconic ballets: the Firebird in its original 1910 ballet suite, and an extraordinary - and acclaimed - new arrangement of Petrushka by the Mythos accordion duo. Donald Macleod begins the week with Stravinsky's own memories of childhood - a trio of songs after children's rhymes - as well piano pieces recalling his own attempts to 'find' music at the keyboard as a boy. He explores the world of old St Petersburg - and the influence of Tchaikovsky on the young composer - and fast-forwards to Stravinsky's very final work, written at the age of 83, which hauntingly looks back at his then-distant youth. Donald Macleod focuses on Stravinsky's own memories of childhood. | |
| 2014 | 02 | Towards The Firebird | 20140805 | Donald Macleod presents the tuneful, highly 'Russian' scores that led to Stravinsky's breakthrough work, The Firebird - including a rare performance of its original 1910 ballet suite. Igor Stravinsky was one of the most brilliant, daring and influential musical thinkers of the early 20th century - a composer who forged new musical horizons and scandalised high society. But it wasn't always that way... Stravinsky was, in fact, a relatively late starter - no musical prodigy here - and his earliest musical works show no hint of the coruscating modernism that was to make him the most famous composer in the world. Instead, we find charming, witty and delightful music in the great Russian tradition of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Mussorgsky - compositions often sadly overlooked in the great swirl of publicity that surrounded his trio of great ballets, The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite Of Spring. This week, Donald Macleod explores the world of 'Young Igor', presenting a rare hearing of Stravinsky's fine early compositions and a selection of rarities as we follow the composer's development up to the end of the First World War. He also presents two rare and unusual versions of Stravinsky's iconic ballets: the Firebird in its original 1910 ballet suite, and an extraordinary - and acclaimed - new arrangement of Petrushka by the Mythos accordion duo. Continuing his exploration of the music of 'Young Igor', Donald Macleod today presents a tuneful series of works overlooked in the melee of publicity that surrounded the premiere of Stravinsky's huge early success, the ballet 'The Firebird'. These include a trio of charming songs, 'The Faun And The Shepherdess', and two Poulenc-esque compositions that seem to look forward to the cool neo-classicism of the 1920s. We end with a rare outing for the original 1910 suite from The Firebird - full of spectacular moments of orchestration that the composer later revised and reigned in in the versions usually heard in the concert hall. Donald Macleod explores a series of overlooked Stravinsky works. | |
| 2014 | 03 | Young Igor The Russian | 20140806 | Donald Macleod explores the influence of Stravinsky's teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, and presents an acclaimed - and extraordinary - arrangement of Petrushka for accordion duo. Igor Stravinsky was one of the most brilliant, daring and influential musical thinkers of the early 20th century - a composer who forged new musical horizons and scandalised high society. But it wasn't always that way... Stravinsky was, in fact, a relatively late starter - no musical prodigy here - and his earliest musical works show no hint of the coruscating modernism that was to make him the most famous composer in the world. Instead, we find charming, witty and delightful music in the great Russian tradition of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Mussorgsky - compositions often sadly overlooked in the great swirl of publicity that surrounded his trio of great ballets, The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite Of Spring. This week, Donald Macleod explores the world of 'Young Igor', presenting a rare hearing of Stravinsky's fine early compositions and a selection of rarities as we follow the composer's development up to the end of the First World War. He also presents two rare and unusual versions of Stravinsky's iconic ballets: the Firebird in its original 1910 ballet suite, and an extraordinary - and acclaimed - new arrangement of Petrushka by the Mythos accordion duo. Before Stravinsky became the doyen of musical modernism in the early 20th century, he was steeped in the Russian nationalist tradition of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Mussorgsky. Donald Macleod begins today's programme with two works tinged with the tolling church bells and orchestral flourishes of Stravinsky's forebears, before moving on to a complete performance of an acclaimed - and remarkable - arrangement of one of Stravinsky's best-loved scores: a brand-new version, by the Mythos accordion duo, of the ballet Petrushka. Donald Macleod considers the influence of Stravinsky's teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov. | |
| 2014 | 04 | Starry Faces And Soldiers | 20140807 | Donald Macleod explores Stravinsky's experiences in exile in Switzerland during the First World War, including a rare performance of his bizarre miniature cantata 'The Starry-Faced One'. Igor Stravinsky was one of the most brilliant, daring and influential musical thinkers of the early 20th century - a composer who forged new musical horizons and scandalised high society. But it wasn't always that way... Stravinsky was, in fact, a relatively late starter - no musical prodigy here - and his earliest musical works show no hint of the coruscating modernism that was to make him the most famous composer in the world. Instead, we find charming, witty and delightful music in the great Russian tradition of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Mussorgsky - compositions often sadly overlooked in the great swirl of publicity that surrounded his trio of great ballets, The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite Of Spring. This week, Donald Macleod explores the world of 'Young Igor', presenting a rare hearing of Stravinsky's fine early compositions and a selection of rarities as we follow the composer's development up to the end of the First World War. He also presents two rare and unusual versions of Stravinsky's iconic ballets: the Firebird in its original 1910 ballet suite, and an extraordinary - and acclaimed - new arrangement of Petrushka by the Mythos accordion duo. You thought The Rite Of Spring was strange? Stravinsky's infamous ballet - which caused a riot on its debut in 1913 - has almost completely obscured a truly bizarre, and ferociously difficult, miniature cantata the composer composed around the same time. Roughly translated as 'The Starry-Faced One', this four-minute tour-de-force for vast orchestra and chorus is rarely performed - today, Donald Macleod introduces the work, and explores Stravinsky's time in exile in Switzerland during the First World War. The programme ends with a complete performance of the suite from Stravinsky's theatrical collaboration with the writer CF Ramuz: The Soldier's Tale. Donald Macleod recounts Stravinsky's experiences in exile in Switzerland during WWI. | |
| 2014 | 05 LAST | When Igor Met Pablo | 20140808 | Donald Macleod presents tales of boozy escapades and Italian adventure as Stravinsky hits it off with the young Pablo Picasso - including a rare complete performance of Stravinsky's sung ballet Pulcinella. Igor Stravinsky was one of the most brilliant, daring and influential musical thinkers of the early 20th century - a composer who forged new musical horizons and scandalised high society. But it wasn't always that way... Stravinsky was, in fact, a relatively late starter - no musical prodigy here - and his earliest musical works show no hint of the coruscating modernism that was to make him the most famous composer in the world. Instead, we find charming, witty and delightful music in the great Russian tradition of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Mussorgsky - compositions often sadly overlooked in the great swirl of publicity that surrounded his trio of great ballets, The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite Of Spring. This week, Donald Macleod explores the world of 'Young Igor', presenting a rare hearing of Stravinsky's fine early compositions and a selection of rarities as we follow the composer's development up to the end of the First World War. He also presents two rare and unusual versions of Stravinsky's iconic ballets: the Firebird in its original 1910 ballet suite, and an extraordinary - and acclaimed - new arrangement of Petrushka by the Mythos accordion duo. By the end of the First World War, Stravinsky was in permanent exile. But that wasn't about to stop him having fun... Donald Macleod explores the riotous time Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Picasso had in Italy when they met for the first time, as well as the shared interest in commedia dell'arte that sparked Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella. The programme is framed by a rare performance - in three excerpts - of the complete ballet (most usually heard in its abridged concert suite) allowing us to hear the brilliant sung arias. Donald Macleod discusses Stravinsky and Picasso's first meeting in Italy. | |
| 2019 | 01 | In The Orbit Of Rimsky-korsakov | 20190506 | 20210405 (R3) | Donald Macleod explores the life and work of the composer who is said, in his music, to have ushered in the 20th century: Igor Stravinsky. His name is probably still most associated with the utterly extraordinary, revolutionary evening that prompted that accolade - the premiere of The Rite of Spring in Paris on the 29th of May 1913. Today Donald will be focusing on Stravinsky's early relationship with a pivotal figure in Russian classical music, Rimsky-Korsakov. Rite of Spring (Introduction) City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Simon Rattle, conductor Scherzo in G minor Oxana Shevchenko, piano Pastorale Phyllis Bryn-Julson, soprano Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez, conductor Four Etudes, Op 7, Nos 3 and 4 Symphony in E flat major (1st and 2nd movements) Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Neeme J䀀rvi, conductor Faun and Shepherdess Lucy Shelton, soprano Cleveland Orchestra Oliver Knussen, conductor Scherzo Fantastique St Petersberg Philharmonic Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor Produced in Cardiff by Martin Williams Donald Macleod surveys the life and music of Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky. |
| 2019 | 02 | With Diaghilev In Paris | 20190507 | 20210406 (R3) | Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Igor Stravinsky. Stravinsky's Fireworks was written for the approval of his mentor, Rimsky-Korsakov. It also marked the beginning of his relationship with another important collaborator. The impresario Sergei Diaghilev had founded a magazine and had promoted, in Paris, an exhibition of Russian painting which had been a big success. Then there had been a sensational season of Russian opera which introduced the great Russian bass Fyodor Chaliapin to Paris. Now Diaghilev wanted to introduce Parisian audiences to the glories of Russian ballet. And he looked to Stravinsky to help him. Chicago Symphony Orchestra Pierre Boulez, conductor The Firebird Suite New York Philharmonic Leonard Bernstein, conductor Three Movements from Petrushka Katia Labeque, piano Marielle Labeque, piano The Rite of Spring (excerpts) Kirov Orchestra Valery Gergiev, conductor The Rite of Spring (Sacrificial Dance) Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Neeme J䀀rvi, conductor Produced in Cardiff by Martin Williams Donald Macleod explores Stravinsky's relationship with the impresario, Sergei Diaghilev. |
| 2019 | 03 | Back To Bach | 20190508 | 20210407 (R3) | Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Igor Stravinsky, today exploring the period of Stravinsky's evolution as a composer in which he seemed to look backwards to more classical forms. He was also beginning a life as a more deliberate performer: his 'expressionless' music becoming a vehicle in which he could express himself. Pulcinella (Overture) London Sinfonietta Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor Mavra: Russian Song (arr for cello & piano) Christian-Pierre La Marca, cello Lise de la salle, piano Octet (2nd movement) Eastman Wind Ensemble Mark Scatterday, director Symphony of Psalms Monteverdi Choir London Symphony Orchestra John Eliot Gardiner, conductor Concerto in E flat major 'Dumbarton Oaks NDR Symphony Orchestra Gunter Wand, conductor Produced in Cardiff by Martin Williams Donald Macleod looks at Stravinsky's apparent return to more classical forms of music. |
| 2019 | 04 | Exile In La | 20190509 | 20210408 (R3) | Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Igor Stravinsky, today focusing on the composer's first years in the United States. 1939 was clearly a pivotal year in world history. Igor Stravinsky wrote to a friend: 'My house, my family is destroyed - I no longer have anything to do in Paris.' He was seemingly, understandably, distraught at his wife Katya's death, despite his far from loving treatment of her during her lifetime. This was something his children would resent for ever. Now, Stravinsky was further removed from his native Russia and alienated in his adoptive country of France. Although in deep mourning, he chose to accept an offer of a professorship at Harvard University for a year and set sail for the USA, alone, at the outbreak of war, at the end of September 1939. Tango Oxana Shevchenko, piano Ebony Concerto (1st and 2nd movements) Woody Herman and his Orchestra Scherzo a la Russe City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Simon Rattle, conductor Symphony in Three Movements London Symphony Orchestra Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor Rake's Progress: Act I Scene 3 (excerpt) Monteverdi Choir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor Mass (Kyrie, Gloria) Netherlands Chamber Choir Schoenberg Ensemble Reinbert De Leeuw, conductor Produced in Cardiff by Martin Williams Donald Macleod turns his focus to Stravinsky's first years in the United States. |
| 2019 | 05 LAST | Late Austerity | 20190510 | Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Igor Stravinsky, today focusing on Stravinsky's late move towards serialist methods of composition. It's not clear whether Stravinsky's move in this direction was directly attributable to the influence of his musical assistant Robert Craft, but the younger man regularly conducted concerts which included works by Schoenberg, and Stravinsky seems to have set about a re-appraisal of his own technique. In his record of conversations he had with Stravinsky over the years, Robert Craft recalls an occasion when he challenged the composer to 'draw' his recent music. Craft led the way by illustrating plainchant with a single straight line, polyphony with four parallel lines, Bach with a grid, Wagner with what looks like a diagram of an interior-sprung mattress, Webern with a spiral, and the new serialists with what looks like a sketch for a painting by Piet Mondrian - overlapping quadrangles. What Stravinsky came up with to depict his own music of the time - the late 1950s - looks like a simplified version of Harry Beck's brilliant schematic map of the London Underground system, with a series of points connected by straight lines. 'This,' the composer said, 'is my music. In Memoriam Dylan Thomas Ensemble Intercontemporain Pierre Boulez, conductor Movements for Piano and Orchestra Oli Mustonen, piano Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor Agon: Act IV London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra of St Luke's Robert Craft, conductor The dove descending breaks the air Collegium Vocale Gent Philippe Herreweghe, conductor Canticum Sacrum SWR Baden-Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart Michael Gielen, conductor Produced in Cardiff by Martin Williams. Donald Macleod explores Stravinsky's late move towards serialist methods of composition. | |
| 2024 | 01 | An Old, Old Story | 20240129 | Kate Molleson explores the multiple legends and lore of Igor Stravinsky, from fables and rituals, to folk tales, myths and religious ceremonies. Beginning today with the biggest myth of them all: the Rite of Spring. Or, more specifically, the opening night of the ballet of that name, performed by Sergey Diaghilev's Ballet Russes to Stravinsky's music. The event was a success de scandale. But the degree to which the fevered reaction was due to Stravinsky's music is still up for debate. Either way, the furore suited Stravinsky and Diaghilev just fine. The Rite was hailed by some as the apex of modernity, but it was an old, old story: rooted in a pagan, prehistoric world and climaxing with the sacrifice of a woman to the sun – a totemic work in Stravinsky's early fascination for the folk culture of his native Russia. Rite of Spring, Part 1: Adoration of the Earth musicAeterna Teodor Currentzis, conductor Fireworks Lucerne Festival Orchestra Riccardo Chailly, conductor Russian Dance, from Three Movements from Petrushka Daniil Trifonov, piano Infernal Dance, from The Firebird Orchestre de Paris Klaus Mäkelä, conductor The Rite of Spring, Part 2: The Sacrifice NHK Symphony Orchestra Paavo Järvi, conductor Kate Molleson explores the legends and lore of Igor Stravinsky. | |
| 2024 | 02 | A Russia Of The Mind | 20240130 | In a week of programmes dedicated to the myths and masks and rituals of Igor Stravinsky, Kate Molleson explores the years of Stravinsky's exile from Russia during WW1. Stravinsky spend almost all his working life in one sort of exile or another. First he left Russia for France, then at the start of the First World War he left France for neutral Switzerland where he lived near Lausanne surrounded by Russian artist refugees. He didn't return to Russia for 50 years but his homeland loomed large in his imagination. Marooned in landlocked Switzerland, he pined for Russia as he would for the rest of his life – and that homesickness took on all sorts of guises. In another sense, the distance was useful. He was free to reinvent a Russia of the mind, refracted through memory, nostalgia and myth. King Ki Ki Little Tich Excentrique, from Three Pieces for String Quartet Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Four Russian Peasant Songs La Maîtrise de Toulouse Mark Opstad, director The Mechanical Nightingale, from Song of the Nightingale New York Philharmonic Pierre Boulez, conductor Renard (excerpts) Paris National Opera Chorus & Orchestra James Conlon, conductor Soldier's Tale (excerpts) Jean Cocteau, narrator The Wedding Feast, from Les Noces MusicAeterna Teodor Currentzis, conductor | |
| 2024 | 03 | Neoclassical Mask | 20240131 | Kate Molleson explores Igor Stravinsky's multiple masks and myths. His love of rites and rituals. Today leaning into his neoclassicism – his turn to the past to make sense of the present. After WW1 Stravinsky began to compose in a new way – a new style for a new age. Beginning with Pulcinella, refracting the music of Pergolesi. He described this period as a crisis, because like every modernist he was faced with a problem: how could art be meaningful after what they'd witnessed during the Great War? He described Pulcinella as a “backward look – first of many love affairs in that direction – but it was a look in the mirror, too. ? Through music that was fresh and fractured, arch and ironic, Stravinsky came up with a re-ordering of the past that was ultra-present. Overture: Sinfonia, from Pulcinella Suite Tapiola Sinfonietta Masaaki Suzuki, conductor Suite Italienne Amalie Stalhiem, cello Christian Ihle Hadland, piano Sonata for Piano Oxana Shevchenko, piano Symphonies of Wind Instruments Nash Ensemble Simon Rattle, conductor Octet Royal Scottish National Orchestra Neeme Jarvi, conductor Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Ilan Volkov, conductor Steven Osborne, piano Kate Molleson explores Stravinsky's turn to the past to make sense of the present. Kate Molleson explores Stravinsky's masks and myths, his love of rites and rituals. Today focusing on his neoclassicism – his turn to the past to make sense of the present. | |
| 2024 | 04 | Inexpressionism | 20240201 | Kate Molleson explores the multiple legends and lore of Igor Stravinsky, from fables and rituals, to folk tales, myths and religious ceremonies. Today focusing on Stravinsky's fascination for the tales of Greek antiquity. Maybe it was inevitable that Stravinsky would find his way back to Greece at some point. For a composer who notoriously claimed that music is ‘essentially powerless to express anything at all,' the stories of Greek drama were a way to sidestep emotion and psychology – to present archetypes controlled by the mechanisms of fate, as in Oedipus Rex, or as accompaniment to the austere inexpressive dance of Apollo, or concert works structured by the forms of Greek poetry as in Duo Concertant. Act 1: Caedit nos pestis Shinyukai Choir and Saito Kinen Orchestra Seiji Ozawa, conductor Act 1: Nonn' erubescite, reges Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor Romanza, from Serenade in A for piano Alexie Lubimov, piano Orpheus (excerpt) Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Apollo (excerpt) Stuttgarter Kammerorchester Dennis Russell Davies, conductor Leonidas Kavakos, violin Peter Nagy, piano Act 2: Divum locastae acput mortuum! Act 2: “Ecce! Regem Oedipoda Boston Symphony Orchestra Leonard Bernstein, conductor Kate Molleson explores Stravinsky's fascination for the drama of Greek antiquity. Kate Molleson explores the multiple legends and lore of Igor Stravinsky, today focusing on his fascination for the drama of Greek antiquity. | |
| 2024 | 05 LAST | In Memoriam | 20240202 | Kate Molleson explores the multiple legends and lore of Igor Stravinsky, focusing today on his return to religion. Stravinsky had grown up in a household that did religion by numbers – his parents weren't devout but they stood by the Orthodox tradition. The composer drifted away from the church as a teenager and then, for reasons that are not entirely clear, made a dramatic return in his 40s. There was something profoundly rooted about his Orthodox faith. Something that connected him to the home he could never return to. When he reconnected with the church, Stravinsky didn't opt for Catholicism, which would have made more sense in France. His friend Jean Cocteau had become enthusiastically Catholic through a haze of opium-enhanced mystery. But for Stravinsky it was the more austere rituals of orthodoxy and the sound of Old Slavonic that was the language of prayer, as reflected in his first sacred composition, Otche nash, from 1926. The Sixteen Harry Christophers, conductor Symphony of Psalms London Symphony Orchestra and the Monteverdi Choir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor Mass IV: Sanctus English Bach Choir Leonard Bernstein, conductor Ode iii Epitaph USSR State Symphony Orchestra Igor Stravinsky, conductor In Memoriam Dylan Thomas Ensemble Intercontemporain Pierre Boulez, conductor Robert Tear, tenor Requiem Canticles Royal Flemish Philharmonic Philippe Herreweghe, conductor Kate Molleson explores Igor Stravinsky's return to religion. |