Santtu conducts Stravinsky I: The Firebird | Philharmonia Orchestra

Santtu opens a two-concert focus on Stravinsky and Prokofiev with music from Stravinsky’s first major ballet, and a fiendish piano concerto.

The Firebird was Stravinsky’s first collaboration with the impresario Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, a partnership that gave birth to some of the defining music of the early 20th century. The tale of a huntsman prince, a magical bird, an evil monster and 13 enchanted princesses is based on stories from Russian folklore. It’s the perfect showcase for Stravinsky’s masterful orchestration skills and harmonic and rhythmic originality. “Mark him well,” said Diaghilev, “he is a man on the eve of celebrity.”

Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite also started life as a commission from the Ballets Russes, intended to capitalise on the success of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring a few years later. Prokofiev’s music shares some of the visceral rhythmic power of The Rite – he noted that at the premiere, “the timpanist tore the kettledrum head with his furious blows.”

Between these two comes a piano concerto no less vivid or powerful. Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 2 is full of savage energy. It makes huge technical demands of its soloist – even Prokofiev himself, an outstanding concert pianist, confessed “I do not manage to stay calm during the most difficult parts.” Tonight it is in the more-than-capable hands of Behzod Abduraimov, acclaimed for his “virtuoso command and individuality of voice” (Gramophone).