Variations & Mozaics on a Theme of Stravinsky
Priscilla McLean
About this work:
THE THEME: Taken from “Four Russian Peasant Songs”--song #4: “Master Portly” by Igor Stravinsky, for baritone voice and three-part women’s choir. The music divides neatly into three distinct musical sections. The first phrase is the baritone solo, like a cantor’s, singing the story. The second and third phrases are the choral answer, sung in two different harmonic planes. Here the folk song is not changed except through orchestration, laying out the theme. VARIATIONS I-IV: Each uses its own formal design, developing fragments of the original theme, interplayed with Priscilla McLean’s melodic and harmonic themes and motives. MOZAICS: Composed at a later time (1975, the first variations written in 1967-69), “Mozaics” uses the techniques of alternation of brief sections and interruption, using melodic and harmonic motives often directly taken from the original “Theme”. This movement, inspired by Stravinsky’s “Agon”, is a tribute/parody to the later styles of Stravinsky. The Bb clarinet has a jaunty, jazzy tune which makes the quality of this variation very light and humorous. VARIATION V: Beginning with an introductory section, this last variation gradually evolves into a recapitulation of the original “Theme”. The theme expands with repetition until the broad climactic section that juxtaposes the original folk music and a slower variation of it, found in the horns, ending the work in a grandiose gesture of affirmation.
Year composed: 1975
Duration: 00:18:30
Ensemble type: Orchestra:Standard Orchestra
Instrumentation: 1 Piccolo, 2 Flute, 2 Oboe, 1 English Horn, 1 Clarinet,1 Clarinet soloist(s), 2 Bassoon, 1 Contrabassoon, 4 Horn in F, 2 Trumpet, 2 Trombone, 1 Timpani, 3 Percussion (General), 1 Xylophone, 1 Celesta, 2 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello, 1 Double bass, 1 Harp