Concern about the end of Stravinsky's "Symphonies"

The part in question is around 9:02. YouTube - Igor Stravinsky: Symphonies Of Wind Instruments (1920)

I am looking at the end of Symphonies of Wind Instruments by Igor Stravinsky, and I am a bit confused by the final two chords of the piece, and would like some help if possible. Here is the list of instruments and their note:

Flute 1: C D

Flute 2: C D

Flute 3: A B

Alto Flute: A C

Oboe 1: E B

Oboe 2: A G

English Horn in F: F# F#

Clarinet in Bb 1: Eb Eb

Clarinet in Bb 2: B A

Alto Clarinet in Eb : C B

Bassoon 1: F G

Bassoon 2: D C

Contrabassoon: D C

French Horn 1: E F#

French Horn 2: C D

French Horn 3: G F#

French Horn 4: C B

Trumpet in C 1: C D

Trumpet in C 2: A B

Trumpet in A: C G

Trombone 1: B G

Trombone 2: F E

Trombone 3 A G

Tuba: D C

So, assuming I’m reading this right, the chords are as follows (in concert pitch, from bass up)

First: D A F B A A C F C F A D D F Eb A Db B A E A A C C

Second: C G E G E B D E B G B C C G D G Db B G B C B D D

So for the first chord, we have D F A C E B Eb Db, which is...I don’t know...You can find a B half-diminished in there, a Dm9...but the rest of the notes just seem to be thrown in there. The thing that confuses me the most, is when I play those notes on the piano, the chord sounds nothing like the chord does played in the piece...

As for the last chord, everything checks out as a CM9 chord (which is what it is: C G E B D), except the Eb in the first clarinet, which adds a Db. I was told it was probably a notational error on the part of the publisher, which is possible...but it seems to check out with the rest of the part.

So my question here is: am I missing something? Did I make a mistake somewhere? Transposed an instrument wrong? I’m trying to understand harmonically what is going on in this cadence, but it’s kind of hard when my notation doesn’t match what I’m hearing...

[bad pictures from my score are included]

Stravinsky "often" uses "appogiatura chords", meaning a normal chord with the semitones/tones up or down along.

Example: Rite of Spring: Down to up: EG#BEG(natural)BbDbEb . E major and G natural (semitone down from G#), Db (tone up from B), Eb (semitone down from E). (from memory so spelling or even pitches might be slightly off, but this is the idea).

In the first chord you get:

DFAC E B Eb Db . It does seem to correspond to the same idea: Dm7 and then B (tone from D), B (tone from B), Eb (semitone from D), Db (semitone from C). Intervals from each pitch also play a part and this leads to his choice to ommit some pitches, or include some others (for example why isn't there an F#? etc).

It's always difficult with such chords to "guess" what the composer had in mind, unless you already know about it.

Well for the chord before the last it could be seen as a gigantic tertial chord - b-d-f-a-c-eflat-g-bflat-dflat, where the G is omitted. So harmonically it can be seen as two chords making a double resolution - the b dim7 and the cmin flat 9. As the b min7 can be said to be in first inversion it resolves downward (root D to C) while the c min flat 9 chord moves to a C maj 9 and thereby acting a little bit like a Picardy third (eg changing the tonic chord of a minor key or mode whose tonic is minor to major by raising minor third to a major third). In other words you have to view it as an appogiatura chord per Nikolas. Note that Prokofiev took this idea from Stravinsky and made it a his own part of his style.

As for the D flat - tough call/ A remote possibility - as Stravinsky buries it deep in the chord where it acts like an unresolved suspension - the diminished 4th A- D flat goes to diminished fifth G - D flat. What I heard from the performance you posted is the D flat is an error - as I didn't hear any tritones in the upper registers - just 7th and 5ths. Plus I'd say the D flat in the final chord is an error because if it were to be an appogiatura chord you'd need at least a D/F/F# or A to be convincing judging from the way the prior chord is constructed.

Also, the stacking of thirds would make sense as this piece is a homage to Debussy - gigantic tertial chords where explored by Debussy (and the Firebird and Petrouchka are indebted to both Rimsky Korsakoff AND Debussy).

I don't have the score in front of me so I'd double check the transposition but your Horn in F and Clarinet B flat are correct.

As for it not sounding the same at all on the piano - can happen and fairly often.

Thank you for the very in-depth replies :) I suppose then, with that second-to-last chord, I'll just have to listen more to try to discern those "awkward" notes from the mess by ear. I haven't studied much of that stuff, but I'll do my best to make sense of it, and I'll look over my band instructor's doctoral thesis on this piece...

Thanks, guys :)

I dont think categorizing a chord like this played by an entire orchestra is really going to do much for analysis. With a set of notes like that, you could change the instrumentation or the voicing and it would sound like a completely different chord.

You also cant really take something like this outside of the context of the rest of the piece, just like you cant take his famous rite of spring chord out of the context of his rhythmic accenting from the horns over the string ostinato.

I dont think categorizing a chord like this played by an entire orchestra is really going to do much for analysis. With a set of notes like that, you could change the instrumentation or the voicing and it would sound like a completely different chord.

You also cant really take something like this outside of the context of the rest of the piece, just like you cant take his famous rite of spring chord out of the context of his rhythmic accenting from the horns over the string ostinato.

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm sure I'll I'll have to go back to the beginning of that particular chorale-motif section and study the voice leading if I want to see what's really going on...I just figured I'd be able to see something, cadentially, even if that something is random.

Ravich - good points. Yet I still think you can consider the chord the way I posted earlier. The way Stravinsky voices it supports this possible analysis (the Eflat B flat and D flat moving up to E B D and G with the C below and above these notes in the final chord and being in the mid to upper registers the resolution suggests the Picardy third. The first inversion of the diminished chord in the lower register is strongly implied by the downward motion to the root of the next chord and may explain the presence of B in the the penultimate chord ).

I do agree Ravich that it is a tough call without seeing these chords in a much larger context.

It is suggested from analyses I've seen elsewhere that the "finale" of the piece is the only place where a tonal centre is obviously implied, and the analysis here could support that. That said, I have no idea. You did give me something to think about, CO, that I haven't thought about before (for whatever reason), and that is, thinking of multiple tones as leading tones in analysis of large chords...