PART 2 OF 2:
Music Director Alexander Shelley leads Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra in a live performance of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (1919).
Igor Stravinsky’s 1919 Suite from The Firebird is based on his score to the ballet that caused a huge sensation at its 1910 premiere in Paris. The music follows a Russian fairy tale about rebirth and renewal: a splendid firebird is summoned by the Prince Ivan Tsarevich to help save the men and women (including his beloved) who are being held captive under the enchantments of the evil monster King Kaschey. To distinguish the fantasy world of Kaschey and the firebird from the humanity of the Prince and his beloved, Stravinsky masterfully uses chromaticism and spicy dissonances to evoke the former, while the latter is characterized by diatonic harmony and Russian folksong (two tunes appear in the Princesses’ Round Dance, a third in the Finale). Compared to the original score, the 1919 Suite uses a reduced instrumentation, but the composer’s brilliant orchestration skills are still evident, indeed, put front and centre, as are the orchestra’s musicians, in this dramatic concert hall version.
First broadcast July 10th 2021
27 авг 2021
