Stravinsky: Symphony in C, Octet for Wind Instruments, etc.

Stravinsky showed with his Symphony in C that great music could still be composed with the simplest means, recalling Beethoven’s achievement yet with his own rhythmic vitality, grace and refinement. Also written during World War II, the Symphony in Three Movements reaches a martial conclusion enlivened by jubilant Latin American rhythms. Secretly dedicated to his mistress, later wife, Vera de Bosset, the Octet was Stravinsky’s first completely neo-classical work and the happiest of his earliest pieces. In Dumbarton Oaks pays tribute to Bach’s 3rd Brandenburg Concerto.