"On paper, you would imagine their music must be very similar — and yet could not be farther from the truth," says Kalamazoo Philharmonia Music Director Andrew Koehler. That paradox is the heart of Divergent Fates, the ensemble's upcoming concert Saturday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Dalton Theatre at Kalamazoo College.
In a conversation with Cara Lieurance, Koehler explains that Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff share strikingly parallel biographies — both born into wealthy, musically active Russian families, both forced into exile after the 1917 revolution, and both eventually settling in Los Angeles, just blocks apart. Yet their musical philosophies could hardly be more opposed.
Stravinsky, who Koehler describes as perpetually "at the vanguard of whatever taste was about to become," reinvented himself from neo-primitivist to neoclassicist to serialist across his career. Rachmaninoff, by contrast, famously declared he could not "throw out my musical gods and bend the knee to a new one" — remaining devoted to the lush, romantic sound world of his idol Tchaikovsky.
The program pairs Stravinsky's Violin Concerto in D with Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 in E minor. Koehler draws a vivid culinary contrast: "If the Rachmaninoff is this great, hearty stew — the most comforting comfort food you can imagine — then surely the Stravinsky is a lemony, somewhat acidic palate cleanser."
Philadelphia Orchestra violinist Elliot Heaton serves as soloist for the Stravinsky. Koehler says the magic words that secured Heaton's participation were simply asking what he thought of the concerto. "He said, 'Stravinsky! I love the Stravinsky concerto,'" Koehler recalls.
Tickets and details are available at the Kalamazoo Philharmonia website.
