A rollercoaster, a ferry and a sailing ship

Posted by Richard Gill on 15 February 2012 | 2 Comments

Tags: Richard Gill, The Rakes Progress, Victorian Opera, Music, Stravinsky, Directors, bloggers, Conductors

Victorian Opera’s Music Director Richard Gill writes about the music behind The Rake’s Progress and the importance of remaining true to the original score by Igor Stravinsky…

 

The musical journey of The Rake's Progress

Expect a roller-coaster followed by a ferry and then a sailing ship changing into a trip on a cloud when attending The Rake’s Progress. We are trying to be as faithful as possible to the score. We are trying to find the musical truth. And be assured, every note is Stravinsky. He would murder anyone changing his music!

Igor Stravinksy - his music and style

Stravinsky created style. He was a leader. He led from the front and changed the nature of rhythm and melody. He broke all the rules because he knew the rules by heart and when he was breaking them he knew exactly what he was doing. He could be compared to Picasso: a huge body of work and a high degree of originality. He broke all the rules of orchestration and wrote in all sorts of forms and styles which other composers copied. Rhythmically powerful, pulsing with life and forever interesting. He didn't follow style, he made it.

He had brilliant use of rhythm; a brilliant use of orchestral colour; a passion for detail in melodic writing and completely avoided sentimentality. He was interested in all styles and all music, from the most obscure folk music of Russia to the most outrageous Jazz. Stravinsky’s music is in the neo classical style; that is it is based on the style of Mozart and Gluck. He looked backwards in order to move forwards. It is almost as if he ripped off all Mozart's ideas and made them his own. He did say that if you were going to steal ideas, steal good ones.

He loved ballet and opera and has a huge knowledge of the music of the western world as well as eastern music...He spoke Latin, Greek, French, German, Russian, Italian and English. He read widely in all these languages. He was a real polymath. Rite of Spring, Petrouchka and Firebird put him on the musical map of the world. The collaboration with the Ballets Russes was an erupting volcano of creativity that changed dance and music forever.