Selections from The Firebird (1910)

Infernal Dance of King Kaschei

Lullaby

The Death of King Kaschei

Finale

There are piano arrangements of most of Stravinsky’s ballets, all but one of them by the composer himself - four for piano solo (Firebird, Apollo, Fairy’s Kiss, Card Party), two for piano duet (Petrushka, Rite of Spring) and one for two pianos (Agon). But they were intended strictly for rehearsal purposes only and not - unlike the Three Movements from Petrushka, which was arranged as a virtuoso recital piece - for public performance. At least one of the piano reductions, however, the outstandingly brilliant piano-duet version of The Rite of Spring, has proved to be so convincing in its own right that it has found a regular place in the concert hall.

Whether any similar distinction could be achieved by the piano-solo version of The Firebird is something we should know more about after the rare opportunity offered by this afternoon’s performance of four sections from the closing stages of the ballet. Since most of this music is familiar from the concert suites we can scarcely fail to make comparisons with the orchestral version. And since it covers a wide expressive range - varying from the violently percussive to the lyrical, the dramatic and the triumphantly expansive - we will inevitably come to our own conclusions about the effectiveness of a piano transcription made by the composer at the same time as he was working on the orchestral score in 1910.

The Infernal Dance of King Kaschei is a virulent study in malevolence characterised not only by the explosive dynamics and the ferocious rhythmic syncopations but also by a melodic line distorted by the non-diatonic intervals Stravinsky uses to distinguish the magical from the human element in the ballet. Paradoxically, the same intervals are used with a disarmingly gentle effect in the Berceuse, where the Firebird charms the evil King Kaschei and his followers to sleep. Prince Ivan’s final triumph over Kaschei must, naturally, be a celebration of diatonic melody. Russian folk song gave Stravinsky just what he wanted here - a broadly expressive melody called By the Gate, which thrives under the weight of the harmonies he hangs on it and flourishes in whatever rhythm he applies to it.