A Reliquary for Igor Stravinsky

London Sinfonietta conducted by Oliver Knussen

Characteristically controversial, Charles Wuorinen once said that the two greatest American composers were Schoenberg and Stravinsky. And indeed, both European icons were in fact naturalized U.S. citizens at the time of their deaths. Perhaps no other composer has reconciled the compositional rigour of Schoenberg with the flair and virtuosity of Stravinsky. Wuorinen’s A Reliquary for Igor Stravinsky is something of a Rosetta stone for that compositional synthesis. Completed and expanded by Wuorinen from scant sketches Stravinsky was working on at the time of his death, it’s difficult to hear where Stravinsky’s musical contributions end and Wuorinen’s begin. As such, they offer a valuable missing link between the late works of Stravinsky and Wuorinen’s post-1971 oeuvre, particularly his orchestral works, which after hearing this, you might begin to listen to in a completely new way.

—FJO