Stravinsky

Throughout this work, Stravinsky orchestrates all of his instruments in unique and almost grotesque ways to create this overall primal, raw sound. He uses the brass, for the most part, to create big blocks of sound - full and brassy and brilliant- that punch through the orchestra and fill it out to become this great mass of sound.

Rival Tribes
R. 57: The first appearance of octave doubling and even tripling within an instrument part is found in the trombone and the bass trombone. This idea (octave doubling) is continued throughout, and especially used in the horns later on to create an open sound with fullness and depth. It is interesting to note the wide leaps that Stravinsky orchestrates for the tuba 1 that are very affective.

R. 59: Stravinsky goes all out with 8 horns (!!) for a huge sound, sometimes in unison but often spread apart in dissonant intervals - in this case, even close to an octave for an open sound with "bite". Stravinsky also uses the tuba with the horns as a unit on several occasions as he does here, adding a low rumbling foundation to support the brilliance of the horns. This unit is used as a tone color block that alternates in phrases with the woodwinds, highlighting the contrast in texture, articulation, and overall dynamic effect.

R. 61:Here the trumpets are muted and moving in parallel thirds (a very cool effect with completely different tone color from the brilliant/brassy sound - more of a softened, dull/fuzzy tone) and are joined by the flutes (in unison with the trumpets). The flutes contrast the muted trumpet sound and also fill out/smooth out the sound.

R. 63:In the measures leading up rehearsal 63, the trumpets and horns play along with the strings, then the horns stay with the strings in a staccato/punctuating style in a lower range while the piccolo trumpet and C trumpets play along with the high woodwinds on a strong sustained chord that cuts into the rhythmic phrases and contrasts the lower sounds with high, penetrating chords.

Dance of the Earth

In this movement, the brass is orchestrated to move as a unit in big, forceful fanfare-like chords that act as a sort of punctuation or accent in the overall sound, or else in fast repeated patterns (sixteenths or triplets) with the woodwinds to add to the texture while the bassoons/contra bassoon keep the foundational pattern going.

The horn's ability to produce an effective glissando is featured in this movement especially, often performing the glissandos along withe some of the woodwinds and strings.

R. 75:At this point, the ecstasy of sound begins by adding on layers of contrasting rhythmic patterns. The trumpet shows off its agility in tonguing by playing the rapid sixteenth note patterns along with the timpani, while the horns pass an eight note triplet pattern throughout all the parts. The tubas join the bassoon and contra basson on the continuous bass line, and the trumpets and trombones join in punctuating brilliant chords. The music builds in complexity and grows to an incredibly thick texture and massive wall of sound that barrels ahead to the climactic and sudden end.