MMmusing: Googling Stravinsky

A Twitter acquaintance notes that Google has chosen to celebrate Igor Stravinsky's birthday with today's logo tribute. As Tom Service observes, that's good exposure for classical music, but this is one of the more disappointing Google artworks I've seen. It just doesn't say Stravinsky to me - it's so breezy and picnicky. Even the Firebird looks remarkably friendly, and I hadn't noticed that Stravinsky's favorite motif is four Papageno-esque sixteenth notes running up the scale.

So, during my lunch hour, I decided I'd try my hand at a Google tribute. It's not perfect - a bit too Photoshoppy, and the incorporation of the letters isn't all that elegant. But it was only a lunch hour!

In addition to the Google o's as glasses for the iconic face, I decided to use the three famous ballets for which the composer is most well-known: The Firebird, Petrouchka, and The Rite of Spring. I used a firebird image I'd found hiding out here, we see Stravinsky dreaming up Petrouchka's famously bitonal clarinets in the middle, and one of Nikolai Roerich's set designs for The Rite makes an appearance on the right. (Wish I'd had more time to bend that Google 'l' to Roerich's will.) I also prefer mine at smaller scale. It certainly says Stravinsky more clearly.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to Mr. Stravinsky. You can hear his own arrangement here.

UPDATE: New version (not necessarily better):