This transcription of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring marks the completion of a rewarding multi-year project to rethink this 1913 modernist work for large orchestra and transform it into a virtuoso duo for viola and piano while preserving its original rhythmic and melodic integrity and formal structure. Stephen Wyrczynski, viola, and Aram Arakelyan, piano, gave the world premiere in the fall of 2024 and recorded the work for Azica Records in the summer of 2025 with producer Alan Bise. A printed edition is published by Songburd Music.
The Rite of Spring, originally composed for the 1913 season of the Ballets Russes, was commissioned by its director, Sergei Diaghilev. It is a transformative work in classical music because Stravinsky experimented with complex mixed meters, polyrhythms, polytonality, and dissonance in ways that had not previously been attempted. It is considered one of the twentieth century’s defining works of musical and artistic modernism. Contemporary research suggests that Stravinsky transformed Lithuanian, Russian, and Ukrainian folk melodies, many of which are linked to ancient spring rituals. Infamously, at its first performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on May 29, 1913, it “caused a sensation” and “provoked riots.”
This definitive edition of The Rite of Spring for viola and piano was a collaboration between Stephen Wyrczynski and Aram Arakelyan, both in residence at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. We spent many months studying several editions of the orchestral score composed by Stravinsky, as well as reviewing and considering the composer’s own reductions for piano four hands and for two pianos. This transcription has been undertaken with scholarly rigor and careful attention to the structure, completeness, and inventiveness of the original score.
This recording project, partially funded by an IU Presidential Production Grant, introduces and promotes this viola and piano edition to viola soloists, advanced students, and general audiences who have previously known the work only as a ballet for an exceptionally large orchestra. To complement the musical style, length, and impact of The Rite of Spring, we have chosen as a companion piece the rarely performed Sonata in F Minor, Op. 15 by Vladimir Kryukov, composed in 1921, a work of Soviet late Romanticism.
The Arakelyan/Wyrczynski transcription employs a wide range of string and piano techniques to evoke the orchestral colors of the original score. Aram Arakelyan specializes in distilling large orchestral accompaniments for solo instruments into refined and playable reductions.
This adaptation accomplishes the nearly impossible: it condenses the scoring for an enormous ensemble, including special effects techniques and unconventional timbres, into a compact yet powerful duo for viola and piano.
The work is in two parts:
1. The Adoration of the Earth
2. The Sacrifice
The accompanying work on this recording, Vladimir Kryukov’s Sonata in F Minor, introduces a new audience to this unique and virtuosic composition. The style of the Kryukov Sonata closely resembles that of Alexander Scriabin, a successor to Frédéric Chopin. This recording highlights the rigor and excitement of this world-premiere edition of Stravinsky’s work while presenting the complementary character of the Kryukov Sonata. Both pieces challenge the technical boundaries of viola performance and expand the expressive possibilities of the instrument.
Recording available at https://azica.com
Music available at https://songburdmusic.com/products/the-rite-of-spring
The Rite of Spring, originally composed for the 1913 season of the Ballets Russes, was commissioned by its director, Sergei Diaghilev. It is a transformative work in classical music because Stravinsky experimented with complex mixed meters, polyrhythms, polytonality, and dissonance in ways that had not previously been attempted. It is considered one of the twentieth century’s defining works of musical and artistic modernism. Contemporary research suggests that Stravinsky transformed Lithuanian, Russian, and Ukrainian folk melodies, many of which are linked to ancient spring rituals. Infamously, at its first performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on May 29, 1913, it “caused a sensation” and “provoked riots.”
This definitive edition of The Rite of Spring for viola and piano was a collaboration between Stephen Wyrczynski and Aram Arakelyan, both in residence at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. We spent many months studying several editions of the orchestral score composed by Stravinsky, as well as reviewing and considering the composer’s own reductions for piano four hands and for two pianos. This transcription has been undertaken with scholarly rigor and careful attention to the structure, completeness, and inventiveness of the original score.
This recording project, partially funded by an IU Presidential Production Grant, introduces and promotes this viola and piano edition to viola soloists, advanced students, and general audiences who have previously known the work only as a ballet for an exceptionally large orchestra. To complement the musical style, length, and impact of The Rite of Spring, we have chosen as a companion piece the rarely performed Sonata in F Minor, Op. 15 by Vladimir Kryukov, composed in 1921, a work of Soviet late Romanticism.
The Arakelyan/Wyrczynski transcription employs a wide range of string and piano techniques to evoke the orchestral colors of the original score. Aram Arakelyan specializes in distilling large orchestral accompaniments for solo instruments into refined and playable reductions.
This adaptation accomplishes the nearly impossible: it condenses the scoring for an enormous ensemble, including special effects techniques and unconventional timbres, into a compact yet powerful duo for viola and piano.
The work is in two parts:
1. The Adoration of the Earth
2. The Sacrifice
The accompanying work on this recording, Vladimir Kryukov’s Sonata in F Minor, introduces a new audience to this unique and virtuosic composition. The style of the Kryukov Sonata closely resembles that of Alexander Scriabin, a successor to Frédéric Chopin. This recording highlights the rigor and excitement of this world-premiere edition of Stravinsky’s work while presenting the complementary character of the Kryukov Sonata. Both pieces challenge the technical boundaries of viola performance and expand the expressive possibilities of the instrument.
Recording available at https://azica.com
Music available at https://songburdmusic.com/products/the-rite-of-spring