I think when people think of Stravinsky, they think of rhythm. His great innovation was expanding the world of rhythm, which is true, but I also love his harmony, his chords, they’re so rich. I think he valued clarity and a certain discipline to the sound, but that doesn’t stop it being emotional. I think he said that his music is about nothing whatsoever – it’s just music, it’s nothing else. I quite like the uncompromising nature of that.
Symphony Of Psalms is in his neoclassical period, but it has elements of his earlier sounds as well. At this point, he was using a lot of classical forms, or earlier Baroque forms, but the actual content of it would have nothing to do with that. It’s diatonic, but it’s just got just the right amount of unfamiliarity. It’s the familiar and strange co-existing. It’s also very influenced by Greek Orthodox music, maybe just Orthodox music in general, and I love the ancient sound it has.
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