i would like to start discovering stravinsky, what would you suggest i listen to/play

Zac

- The Rite of Spring (this one at least, if nothing else)
- Petrushka
- The Firebird
- Pulcinella
- Symphony of Psalms
- Symphony in Three Movements
- Dumbarton Oaks
- Les Noces

You might want to save his serial works for later.

If you wish to discover starvinsky, I suggest you don't eat for a week or two.

As for the composer mentioned in the thread title, he was quite a cameleon that went through many different stylistic periods. The best known is his early "russian period". His 1910-1913 ballets are a must for anyone who wishes to know him. Then you can move on to his later neclassical and serial periods. I recommend getting to know his orchestral works first, because his works for piano doesn't tell nearly the whole truth about him.

I'd add the Violin Concerto (1931) and Apollon Musagètes (1928) to the list of orchestral works.

In terms of piano, the Petrushka set is most often played. There's also an excellent Concerto for Piano and Winds and a sonata in f# minor. The serenade in la and etudes are also played, and I always liked the Tango as well.

There's also an important serial work for piano and orchestra called "Movements." It sounds a bit like Webern. I like it, but I've never met anyone else who does.

I like Stravinsky's Movements very, very much; it was a very influential work for me 20 year's ago, and gave inspiration in the writing of my own work for piano and chamber orchestra, Diffractions . I haven't heard Stravinsky's Movements in concert though, hopefully there'll be a possibility one day soon.

No one has mentioned The Rake's Progress, a fascinating opera.

I worked on the 2nd of the 4 Etudes at uni. It's great fun once you get the cross rhythms sorted out.

Lots of good suggestions in this thread. I myself would add the neoclassical Symphony in C (my personal favorite amongst Stravinsky's symphonies), and his ballet Persephone, which is wonderfully lyrical (Michael Tilson Thomas has a superb recording coupled with Le Sacre and Firebird).

There's also the lovely Mass and the Symphony for Winds, as well as the gorgeous Cantata -- all from his neoclassical period. Les Noces has been mentioned in this thread, and it is indeed a masterpiece. I recommend this very fine recording (coupled with the Mass and the Cantata).

As others said, save the late serial works for much later. I personally love them (especially Requiem Canticles, In Memoriam Dylan Thomas, and yes, Kappelmeister K and Nigel Keay, Movements as well), but the post-Webern musical language is not easily approachable.

Also check out the thrilling Concerto for Two Pianos -- written for the composer and his son.

Stravinsky's own recordings of his symphonies and his concertante works are very fine, but the others are IMHO rather variable (many small troubles in execution, less than stellar vocalists, etc.).

One of the most moving ballet performancess I have ever seen was Les Noces. Nijinska's daughter lived near here, so the local company was able to reconstruct the original choreography with her help.

The Concerto for 2 Solo Pianos is an important work, probably not played enough. The Capriccio is a fun work for piano and orchestra.

The Fairy's Kiss, an arrangement of piano works by Tchaikovsky into a ballet, is a good piece, as well as an introduction to those piano works.

His music has seen a big drop-off of popularity since his death, which is a shame. He deserves better.

Well I was just about to, wasn't I! One of my favourite operas!

Oh wow, BDB, thanks for reminding me... utterly delightful.

And thanks to Janus and currawong for their respective contributions...

I hope I'll be pardoned for giving the early F# minor Piano Sonata a miss. I listened to it again today, it's just too derivative to provide any musical satisfaction these days, particularly the last movement which is really rather embarrassing.

Much better -if we're considering early Stravinsky- would be Souvenir d'une marche boche. A short composition from 1915, it's just delicious and would make a delectable encore.

And okay, I knew a bloke at uni who professed to prefer the Movements to either the Concerto or the Capriccio. I wasn't convinced. It seemed to me like musical elitism, plain and simple.

Would anyone care to comment on that?

All good suggestions here... Two other good ones are the Soldier's Tale and the octet.