Movements

This may be more Move than the casual fan wants, but it's not just another rehashed collection. From the remastered sound to the presence of various outtakes (including lost live tracks), the 30th anniversary triple-disc Movements is as definitive a set as we'll ever have on this band, containing everything except for the Message From the Country album…

Except for the not-quite-one-minute Greeting Prelude for Pierre Monteux’s eightieth birthday, the Symphony in Three Movements was Stravinsky’s last work for big orchestra and in the big-orchestra style. That was a style in which Stravinsky had not worked for years. At the work’s premiere, the densely packed orchestral sonority came in for a good deal of comment, as did the unbridled physical energy of the first and third movements. In the 1930s and 1940s, it was widely assumed that the old Stravinsky was dead, and the rugged sounds and exciting syncopations of the new Symphony raised hopes that the effete Parisian neoclassicist had, thank heaven, reverted to his sacrale Russian roots. (Of course the brash—and so American—final chord was much remarked upon, disapprovingly.)

In his new album 'Movements', George Li highlights both their structure and their dancing spirit: the 18 movements of Schumann’s 'Davidsbündlertänze' & 'Arabeske in C major', Ravel’s 8 'Valses nobles et sentimentales' and three movements from Stravinsky’s score for the ballet 'Petruskha'.

In his new album 'Movements', George Li highlights both their structure and their dancing spirit: the 18 movements of Schumann’s 'Davidsbündlertänze' & 'Arabeske in C major', Ravel’s 8 'Valses nobles et sentimentales' and three movements from Stravinsky’s score for the ballet 'Petruskha'.

So much of Steve Reich’s music depends on shifting tensions and sonorities. The slightest harmonic tweak in the upper strings must be as committed as the most grounding and predictable left-handed piano thuds. Consequently, performing his works requires an almost telepathic connection between musicians and expert marshalling, perhaps even more so than any other contemporary composer. This new recording of Reich’s Desert Music and his Three Movements fortunately adheres to this maxim, presenting unpretentiously but effectively these effervescent, atmospheric works.

In his new album 'Movements', George Li highlights both their structure and their dancing spirit: the 18 movements of Schumann’s 'Davidsbündlertänze' & 'Arabeske in C major', Ravel’s 8 'Valses nobles et sentimentales' and three movements from Stravinsky’s score for the ballet 'Petruskha'.

In his new album 'Movements', George Li highlights both their structure and their dancing spirit: the 18 movements of Schumann’s 'Davidsbündlertänze' & 'Arabeske in C major', Ravel’s 8 'Valses nobles et sentimentales' and three movements from Stravinsky’s score for the ballet 'Petruskha'.