At 8 p.m. Friday in the Lobero Theatre, the Community Arts Music Association will present pianist Thomas Adès and violinist Anthony Marwood in a concert of works by Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971).

Adès, who is also a major conductor and a fine composer, is a force to be reckoned with in English musical life. Marwood has an enviable reputation as a recitalist, soloist, and member of the Florestan Trio.

All of the works save one on the program were transcribed by the composer in collaboration with violinist Samuel Dushkin (1891–1976), who had been of enormous assistance to Stravinsky in the composition of his Violin Concerto in D Major (1931). The one work not transcribed from an earlier work, the Duo Concertant, was composed for Dushkin, with his help.

How the transcriptions came about was that, in the early 1930s, Stravinsky wanted to get out of Europe and spread the gospel of his music to America. It was very expensive, even then, to haul a full-sized orchestra and equipment on a whistle-stop tour of the United States, and a program of unfamiliar works by a “modern” composer was not likely to be a box-office sensation. So, Stravinsky decided to take Dushkin and perform as a piano-violin duo. To have something to play, Stravinsky’s oeuvre being conspicuously light on chamber music, he composed the Duo and he and Dushkin set to work transcribing.

In all, Stravinsky and Dushkin made three successful tours in America. The last one, in 1937, was confined to California, and included (March 16, 1937), a CAMA-sponsored evening at the Lobero, where they played the same program that Adès and Marwood will play Friday. It includes, in addition to the Duo, the Suite Italienne (from Pulcinella); Pastorale; the Song of the Nightingale and the Chinese March from La Rossignol; the Berceuse, Scherzo and Prélude et Ronde des Princesses from The Firebird; the Russian Maiden’s Song from Mavra; Divertimento (after The Fairy’s Kiss); and the Danse Russe from Petrushka. I guarantee you’ll be enchanted by the Russian Maiden’s Song.

If Stravinsky decided you were OK, and it helped a lot if you were Russian, he was very generous with his time and creative energy. There is his collaboration with Dushkin, of course, but consider this anecdote from the great cellist, Gregor Piatigorsky: “Ever in search of new music, many times I asked Stravinsky to write for the cello, but to no avail. Finally, impatient of waiting longer, I, myself, transcribed Pulcinella for my instrument. Stravinsky greeted me one day: ‘Considering that I never wrote anything for the cello, I am enormously interested to hear that you play a piece by Stravinsky everywhere.’ ‘I do,’ I admitted, somewhat self-consciously.

“Soon afterward we played it together and, spurred by enthusiasm, Stravinsky decided to add the Aria missing in the suite for the violin. We began to meet at the Pleyel Studio in Paris and to work on the piece. ‘Let’s christen it Suite Italienne,’ proposed Stravinsky. When the fascinating days of collaboration were completed, this multiple transcription had evolved into an important and original work…”

For more information and tickets ($45, $35) to the performance, call CAMA at 805.966.4324 or the Lobero box office at 805.963.0761.

Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributor.