WIND SYMPHONIES at Cornell Recital Hall

Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments uses rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic devices reminiscent of The Rite of Spring, but is orchestrated for only wind instruments, and uses the plural form—Symphonies—not to denote the piece’s formal construction, but rather to invoke the broader term meaning ‘to sound together.’ Henry From then brings to life the same composer’s Concerto for Piano and Winds—a neo-Romantic work with unusual performing forces, since concerti were typically for a solo instrument and orchestra. In Paul Hindemith’s Konzertmusik the piano, harps, and winds appear to be odds with one another, with the former playing in a highly chromatic, atonal idiom, and the latter in a more melodic vein.

Kristian Alexander | conductor Henry From | pianist