Lots of Pieces . . .

Mars and I are having a marathon session . . . lots of notes to sort out . . . more to follow . . .

5. The Firebird

Hanging around at home, I managed to catch a broadcast of the complete Firebird ballet by the San Francisco Symphony on Monday, August 6. I had never heard the complete ballet score before. I was familiar, of course, with the famous bassoon solo, the Berceuse (lullaby), and it was quite wonderful--etheral and soothing, as a lullaby should be. But I had never heard what comes immediately afterwards--a very low rumbling that had to be a contrabassoon--the lowest instrument in the orchestra. What a contrast from the Berceuse, played in the bassoon's upper register to the contra playing an almost inaudibly low pitch.

The Firebird was Stravinsky's first big hit: "Although Stravinsky’s first substantial composition was a Symphony in E flat, written in 1906 under the tutelage of Rimsky-Korsakov, it was The Firebird, a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev and premiered by his Ballets Russes in Paris in 1910, that brought Stravinsky into sudden international prominence" (Boosey & Hawkes).

When: Monday, August 6, 7:48 pm
Who: San Francisco Symphony
Where: KUHF, 88.7 FM
Program: STRAVINSKY: The Firebird (complete ballet)/ San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor (RCA 68898)