For all its traditional ties, Stravinsky's music continues to have a shockingly modern effect on many listeners even today. In his music praise of God is formulated in tones entirely different from those expected by music lovers schooled in the romantic tradition. Stravinsky did not compose “emotional­” or “expressive­” religious music but sought objectivity, archaic prototypes, and traditions of timeless value, presenting these elements as if under microscopic enlargement. Stravinsky emphasised the autonomous laws of music, especially its chronological or sequential nature. In spite of this objectification, his music obviously has an emotional effect. Of course, the static quality of his music, its carefully planned structure on the larger scale and its smallest detail, and its dissonant, self-contained chords reflect not so much the yearning of the individual for God as fear and trembling in the presence of the grandeur and unfathomability of the Supreme Being.

Stravinsky composed his Symphony of Psalms in 1930, the commissioner had requested a “popular­” work, but Stravinsky understood “popular­” not in the sense of easy to understand but as “something universally admired­”. He thus chose Psalm 150 (Praise God in his sanctuary) as his point of departure. The instrumentation of the Symphony is extraordinary. The music does not supply a melodic interpretation of the psalm text, of the pilgrim's “cry­”. Instead it has a rigid and formulate effect. Stravinsky shows us a faith that, for fear or trembling, seems incapable of any individual expression of feeling. Here the believer is powerless, at the mercy of the world.