Stravinsky preferred winds to strings, and said so. In a 1924 note on his Octet, he wrote that winds better rendered “a certain rigidity of the form,” while strings were “less cold and more vague.” Coming from him, cold was a compliment. Hence the Symphonies of Wind Instruments, the Octet, a piano concerto accompanied only by winds, and the Symphony of Psalms, which has no violins or violas at all.
Even The Firebird, still lush and full of Rimsky-Korsakov, is remembered for its wind solos. The flute gets the craziest of them: the Firebird’s own dance, all flurries and leaps. The bassoon’s lullaby and the horn call that opens the finale are fixtures of orchestra auditions. And the Infernal Dance is a rhythmic minefield for everyone. The piece isn’t hard because it’s fast. It’s hard because every solo is exposed, and ninety people have to land the same syncopation at once.