London Philharmonic Orchestra: Flight of the Firebird

When Stravinsky joined forces with Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, his creativity was ignited. The Firebird takes an old Russian tale of love, sorcery and rebirth and drenches it in sounds that no one had ever heard before. Over a century on, it’s still one of the most ravishing of all orchestral showpieces. Vladimir Jurowski conducts this second chapter of our Stravinsky adventure, which also includes the 26-year-old Stravinsky’s recently rediscovered musical epitaph for his friend and mentor Rimsky-Korsakov. And Alexander Ghindin – a pianist born into the Russian tradition – is the soloist in Rimsky-Korsakov’s own bittersweet, folk-inspired Piano Concerto.