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Awkward cues
The final horn solo in Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite can be a touchy spot made even more precarious with a clumsy cue from the conductor. Looking at a video of the composer himself conducting, Kenneth Woods makes a good point.
Like Hindemith, the technique isn’t going to win any beauty pageants. More to the point, some gestures are very in tune with dynamics and color of the music, while other aren’t. The cue to the horn soloist at the beginning of the Finale couldn’t really be less musically appropriate or less helpful. It is almost the perfect cue to cause a split- an arhythmic violent stab at the beginning of a lyrical, exposed solo. In fact the player doesn’t split for two reasons: one, he is a damn good horn player, and two, it was Igor freakin’ Stravinsky who gave the weird cue. Trust me, if it was me up there, the horn player would have split it big time.
The “damn good horn player” in this case is Alan Civil.
[Extracted from a “Random Monday” post 2021 by JE]
