MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Stravinsky in America

Stravinsky spent over three decades in America, and the achievements of those years cannot be summarized in a single CD. This one, though, has been absorbingly programmed to chart the progress from his early years there, awkwardly coming to terms with a new language, a new and rather harsh economic climate and a musical public that welcomed him warmly enough but was at the same time welcoming scores of other refugee musicians. Acutely conscious of money and the absence of it ever since losing his home and the income from his estate after the Russian Revolution, he attempted in vain to obtain film music commissions from Hollywood (the Ode in memory of Natalie Koussevitzky is partly made up of recycled music from abortive films) and tried to write pop songs and to make money in the relatively prosperous world of jazz. But the Scherzo a la Russe, originally for jazz band (played here in its orchestral version), sounds like a rejected movement from Petrushka. Rather more shrewdly he wrote the Scenes de ballet for a Broadway revue, and was rewarded with a respectable run of performances. (Gramophone)