Three Movements from The Firebird (1910)

arranged for piano by Guido Agosti

Infernal Dance of King Kaschei

Lullaby

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 for rehearsal purposes only and - although the uncommonly convincing four-hands version of The Rite of Spring has found a regular place in the concert hall - they are not very interesting as piano music.

At the same time, however, there is pianistic potential in most of these ballet scores, particularly the early ones. Artur Rubinstein was clearly aware of this when he commissioned Stravinsky to arrange the Three Movements from Petrushka as a virtuoso recital piece in 1921. It was in much the same spirit that the Italian pianist Guido Agosti made his own arrangement of Three Movements from The Firebird. Unlike the largely functional piano version made by the composer at the same time as he was working on the orchestral score in 1910, Agosti’s transcription is designed to make its effect primarily as piano music.

The Infernal Dance of King Kaschei is a virulent study in malevolence characterised not only by its explosive dynamics and 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.

As Stravinsky once said, “The fact that a work has been scored in one way does not mean that its expressive possibilities are exhausted in that form.”

arranged for piano by Guido Agosti (1901–89)

Infernal Dance of King Kaschei –

Lullaby –

Finale

Stravinsky made piano version of all three of his early ballets – The Firebird for piano solo, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring for piano duet. But they were intended for rehearsal purposes only and, although the uncommonly convincing four-hands version of The Rite of Spring has found a regular place in the concert hall, the Firebird and Petrushka arrangements    not piano-recital material. As Stravinsky once said, however, “the fact that a work has been scored in one way does not mean that its expressive possibilities are exhausted in that form.” Artur Rubinstein presumably shared that opinion when he commissioned Stravinsky to arrange three movements from Petrushka as a virtuoso concert piece in 1921. In much the same spirit the Italian pianist Guido Agosti made arrangements of three movements from The Firebird seven years later. Unlike the largely functional piano version made by the composer at the same time as he was working on the orchestral score in 1910, Agosti’s transcription is designed to make its effect primarily as piano music. In that respect it is brilliantly successful.

The Infernal Dance of King Kaschei is a virulent study in malevolence characterised not only by its explosive dynamics and ferocious rhythmic syncopations – the shrieks of high woodwind replaced here by clattering clusters at the top of the keyboard – but also by a melodic line distorted by the non-diatonic intervals Stravinsky uses to distinguish the magical from the human element. 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. Agosti simulaties the colouring of the ostinato for violas and harp here by setting the two lines fractionally apart. 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, in the piano version no less than in the orchestral original, and flourishes in whatever rhythm he applies to it.