Good confronts evil in Mikhail Fokine's drama of a magical Firebird. This is a classic ballet. The Firebird was Stravinsky’s first score for a ballet. It was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev in 1910 and was first performed at the Paris Opéra. Its success marked the beginning of a great collaboration between Stravinsky and Diaghilev that would also bring about Petruchka and Le Sacre du Printemps. Fokine has shifted from classical ballet towards a folk based style of movement. Stravinsky has brought in folk song elements into his music. Firebird climaxes with one of the most brilliant passages of music ever written.
This is the best performance of the Firebird that I have come across till date.Valery Gergiev with the Vienna Philharmonic.The conclusion is fiery and earth shattering.
Igor Stravinsky is magnificent with this ballet. Other versions of this score that are noteworthy are Pierre Boulez with the Chicago Symphony and Lorin Maazel with Orchestre Nationale de France.
http://youtu.be/RZkIAVGlfWk
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