Stravinsky: L'Oiseau de feu, Apollon Musagète

Featuring

Gustavo Gimeno
Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg
Igor Stravinsky

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Composer's Artistic Vision

For "Apollon musagète," Stravinsky chose a string orchestra to achieve a uniform, 'monochromatic' sound and a neoclassical style, avoiding polychromatic embellishments.

Composition History

Diaghilev initially considered other composers for "L'Oiseau de feu," including Liadov, Glazunov, and Tcherepnine, before finally choosing Stravinsky.

Compositional Technique

In "Apollon musagète," Stravinsky used a couplet by 17th-century French poet Nicolas Boileau to map the music onto the alexandrine meter for Calliope's dance, creating an 'alexandrine dance'.

Composition History

Serge de Diaghilev, the creator and promoter of the Ballets Russes, played a decisive role in Igor Stravinsky's career by commissioning works like "L'Oiseau de feu" (The Firebird).

Recording & Production

This album was recorded in December 2020 and September 2021 at the Grand Auditorium, Philharmonie Luxembourg, with Karel Bruggeman as the artistic director and sound engineer.

Composition History

"Apollon musagète" was commissioned by American patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge for an auditorium in the Library of Congress, with the only constraint being a ballet for a small ensemble not exceeding half an hour.