Russian composer Igor Stravinsky's youthful fire, passion and violence are skillfully captured here by the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Alexander Rahbari. Containing two of Stravinsky's most famous ballet compositions, The Firebird and The Rite of Spring, this recording opens with a work that launched the composer's career, and closes with one that threatened to end it.

Twenty-eight years old and already well on his way to fame, Stravinsky set an igniting spark to his career with 1910's ballet The Firebird (recorded here in his Suite No. 2, 1919 arrangement). The story of The Firebird revolves around the journey of Prince Ivan into a magic land wherein he finds and captures the magic Firebird. The Firebird ultimately secures its freedom by saving Ivan from an evil ogre and uniting him with his beloved Princess. The music opens with a tantalizingly haunting line played by the low strings in the Introduction , depicting Ivan's entry into the magical land. The energetic and dramatic music for the Danse infernale du roi Kastchei depicts the dance of the evil ogre, Kastchei, and testifies to the influence of Stravinsky's music on decades of modern film scores.

Firebird is followed on this recording by Stravinsky's complex and dissonant musical depiction of pagan Russia in The Rite of Spring, whose visceral violations of musical taste caused a riot in Paris at its 1913 premiere. The ballet centers on a pagan spring ritual that includes ritual dancing, the procession of elders, and the sacrifice of a young girl to the god of spring. The music covers a broad spectrum of musical color, from the harsh dissonance and rhythmic intensity of the scene in which the sacrificial victim is glorified (about halfway through Part 2), to the tender and mysterious opening bars of Part 1.

For fierce and powerful depictions of folkloric ancient Russia, look no further than these Stravinsky ballets.

Additional Tracks:
L'oiseau de feu et sa danse
Part 1: L'adoration de la terre