Stravinsky and Ellington

School of Music Philharmonia conducted by Simon Baines

Programme:
Duke Ellington - Black, Brown & Beige (orchestral suite realised by Maurice Peress)
Stravinsky - Symphony in Three Movements

Igor Stravinsky is widely recognised as one of the most significant composers of the twentieth century, and from 1939 he became an established musical figure in the U.S., having left France at the outbreak of war. Recent writing such as David Schiff's The Ellington Century makes a case for Duke Ellington as a similarly significant historical figure, particularly in American music. 1943 saw the first performance of Ellington's jazz symphony Black, Brown and Beige at New York’s Carnegie Hall, manifesting the composer's long-term interest in large-scale forms. In the same year, Stravinsky was working on a re-scoring of The Rite and was part way through his Symphony in Three Movements, which he finished in 1945 for the New Philharmonic. This programme places Maurice Peress’s 1970s symphony orchestra realisation of Black, Brown and Beige alongside what became the last of Stravinsky’s symphonies, his neoclassical reflections on earlier ballet music contrasting with the rather different dance and narrative themes inspiring Ellington.

Great Hall, University of Leeds
Tickets: £8 / £6 advanced booking saver, Free students and children under 16