4 movements from The Firebird Suite (1919)

Round of the Princesses (Khorovod)

Infernal Dance of King Kaschei

Berceuse

Finale

Stravinsky was never more successful, at least in commercial terms, than he was with the music for his very first ballet, The Firebird, which was written for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1910. The concert suite from the ballet - whether in the lavish orchestration of 1910, the more economical revision of 1919 or the extended selection of 1945 - remains his most popular work. The reason for that is not too difficult to find. Alongside its brilliantly extravagant colouring and its irresistible rhythmic interest, the great attraction of the music is that it tells its story in terms of melody, bringing two different kinds of melody into conflict with each other.

The Princesses who dance the Khorovod in the first of these extracts are the innocent captives of the evil King Kaschei. They - together with Prince Ivan who with the help of the Firebird will eventually rescue them from the clutches of Kaschei’s supernatural powers - represent the human element in the ballet and are characterised by wholesome romantic melody. The Infernal Dance of King Kaschei is a violent contrast, not only because of the explosive dynamics and the ferocious rhythmic syncopations but also because of the malevolent intervals in the melodic line. Stravinsky can, however, use the same interval with a disarmingly gentle effect in the Berceuse where the Firebird charms Kaschei and his followers to sleep. The final triumph over Kaschei must naturally, be a celebration of romantic melody. As before, Russian folk song gave Stravinsky just what he wanted - an impressively broad melody called By the Gate, which positively thrives and flourishes under all the weight of celebration that the composer hangs on it.