Two New SFSymphony+ Stravinsky Videos

Those that came away from last week’s subscription concerts presented in Davies Symphony Hall by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) thinking that they had not gotten enough Stravinsky from Esa-Pekka Salonen and violinist Leila Josefowicz may be happy to learn that two new videos of performances of Stravinsky’s music were uploaded last week for streaming from the SFSymphony+ Web site. However, while the selections in Davies were full-orchestra performances, both of the SFSymphony+ uploads are solo compositions. The first of these is a viola solo entitled simply “Elegy,” while the second has the even more objective title “Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet.” Both videos are only about five minutes in duration.

Since I played clarinet in high school, when I saw a copy of Stravinsky’s “Three Pieces” in a music store, I purchased it immediately. Sadly, over the course of several years I never really got my fingers (and breath) around the entire set. The meditative lento of the first piece was manageable enough; but, for the remaining two pieces, my fingers just could not keep up with Stravinsky’s notes flying off in all directions.

Listening now with a larger “database” of memories, I realized (as did the author of this composition’s Wikipedia page) that the third piece bore a strong family resemblance to the clarinet music composed for L’Histoire de Soldat (the soldier’s tale). For that matter, both L’Histoire and the solo clarinet composition seem to reflect a metaphor of sarcasm, which may have been inspired by the prevailing rhetoric of Sergei Prokofiev’s Opus 17 collection of solo piano pieces (entitled Sarcasms). Nevertheless, the performer on the video is Jerome Simas; and he is intently focused only on the technique demanded to do justice to Stravinsky’s marks on paper. That leaves the attentive listener to reflect on any denotations or connotations that might seem appropriate!

The title of “Elegy,” on the other hand, clearly defines that composition’s rhetorical disposition. It is also a free-flowing single composition, rather than a sequence of three miniatures. In that context there is much to appreciate in how this video seems to have been structured around overlaid images. For example, the following screenshot seems to invite the attentive listener to focus on foreground and background at the same time:

Mind you, Stravinsky may have had his own ideas about foreground and background or, for that matter, the distinction between elaborating ornaments and the cantus firmus being elaborated. Nevertheless, this imaginative video design of an uncredited technician provides the attentive listener with a guidepost or two for negotiating this elegiac music performed with impeccable focus by SFS Principal Viola Jonathan Vinocour.