Review: Symphony in Three Movements: Movement I

As performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the first movement of Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements is a thunderous dialogue of the different instrumental sections of the orchestra. From the very beginning, the audience is met with a heavy roll of the percussion, which is immediately replied by a dissonant interplay between the sharp string section and the resonant brass. The epic clashes that follow throughout the piece invoke a sense of a harsher, unapologetic version of Wagner.

For each climax is a resolution, and Stravinsky does not neglect this rule for the first movement of his symphony. The first decrescendo leads to a staccato performance of the string section. Creating a tense and almost primal qualia, the string section emphasizes the piercing nature of their instruments. Soon enough, the percussion returns to beckon the rest of the orchestra back to battle. This form of sectional resolution reappears throughout the piece. The next resolution highlights the brass section, with the strings maintaining a background presence. This continues with the piano and the wind instruments as well. The softer piano and wind instruments provide a more harmonic interlude near the middle of the movement. But the brass nonetheless sneaks back in, followed not so far behind by the string and percussion.

Written between 1942-1945, Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements sits right in the middle of World War II. In a rare move, Stravinsky acknowledged the influence of war on his piece. The first movement of his “war symphony” specifically drew inspiration from images of the Japanese scorched earth tactic in China at the time.  As the name implies, this tactic involved the full-scale destruction of crop fields and natural environments in order to starve the population into submission. From this perspective, the percussion, brass, and string section seem to overwhelm and decimate the softer interludes of the more natural sounding piano and wind instruments. Even during the resolutions, the war influence is felt clearly by a subdued brass or string element in the background. All this contributes to the ultimate anxious and severe nature of the piece.

Overall, the Berlin Philharmonic’s performance highlights the key elements of Stravinsky’s work and amplified the tone of the piece to an appropriate level. Particularly, the brass section successfully accomplished a forceful sound that carried the movement to the very end. In general, a standing ovation for this performance.