Stravinsky: Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra

Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra

Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)

In only four years (1910-1913) Igor Stravinsky rocketted from near-obscurity to international fame with his three landmark ballet scores composed for Sergei Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet. The sensational Paris premiere of le sacre du printemps (1913) aroused expectations for even more dazzling and challenging works from the thirty year-old composer. But the outbreak of the Great War closed the theatres, Diaghilev’s dancers were dispersed, and Stravinsky took his family to wait out the war in Switzerland. With large-scale works out of the question, Stravinsky composed a number of small-scale theatre pieces, including Renard (1916) and Histoire du soldat (1918), as well as many brief, compressed compositions, marking a drastic stylistic change, one which had begun even before the onset of the war.

Among the miniature works written during Stravinsky’s sojourn in Switzerland were two collections of pieces for piano duet: Three Easy Pieces (1915) and Five Easy Pieces (1917). The first collection bore dedications to Alfredo Casella, Erik Satie and Serge Diaghilev, who was encouraged to take part in an impromptu sight-reading with the composer. “On reaching the Polka [dedicated to Diaghilev] I told him that in composing it I had thought of him as a circus ring-master in evening dress and top-hat, cracking his whip and urging on a ride on horseback. At first he was put out, not quite knowing whether he ought to be offended or not; but we had a good laugh over it together in the end.” The second set of piano duets was written for Stravinsky’s children, with easy parts for the right hand. Both sets were first publicly performed in 1919 with the composer in unlikely partnership with Jose Iturbi!

At various times between 1917 and 1925 Stravinsky orchestrated the complete set of eight pieces to form his two Suites for Small Orchestra, each containing four movements. These little works are splendid

“light music” by a composer who took great delight in composing witty and graceful little musical “entertainments” without in any way compromising his artistic standards.

The Second Suite for Small Orchestra is scored for winds in pairs (except for a single oboe), single brass (but for two trumpets), percussion, piano and strings.

The opening Marche is a perky, parodistic little piece, with snappy tin-soldier fanfares and a vaguely bitonal harmonic background. As usual with Stravinsky’s orchestration everything is crystal clear, a breezy little horn solo being particular noteworthy.

The Waltz brings an affectionate recollection of Petrushka, with its harmony based upon a pair of

oom-pah pah chords, with music-box melodic patterns in the upper winds. A marvel of economy, the scoring is pared down to piccolo, flute, oboe, 2 clarinets (supplying the oompah figures), bassoon, and a trumpet that gets to play exactly 32 notes in the whole movement!

The Polka (the movement dedicated to Diaghilev) is a wonderful “pre-echo” of the cheeky, satirical music which young Dmitri Shostakovich used to composed before the Stalinist roof fell in on him: here a saucy little trumpet tune bounces around with blithe aplomb, over another Stravinskian oompah accompaniment. This time (in a nightmare of bar-counting) the cellos and basses repeat a two-note pattern 49 times, then must be alert to jump off for the final bar!

The concluding Gallop may be a fond recollection of Offenbach – or perhaps another echo of Petrushka in its romping high spirits – or another pre-echo, perhaps of Pulcinella’s more madcap moments – or even a glance ahead to the world of Aaron Copland’s Music Theater - ! There are ostinato patterns aplenty (once again, a fine test of bar-counting in the lower instruments), quirky riffs in winds and brass, even a middle “Trio” section (in all but name) with a trumpet/tuba duet.