大象传媒

Great Ballets of the Twentieth Century.
Presented by James Jolly.

This week, Afternoon on 3 explores some of the colourful ballet scores which changed the course of music history. Beginning with Glazunov's allegorical ballet The Seasons, premiered by the Imperial ballet of St Petersburg in 1900, the story then moves to Paris; for it was here that in 1910 Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russe launched the career of the young Igor Stravinsky with his Firebird, a ballet based on Russian folk tales about a magical glowing bird that can be both a blessing and a curse to its owner. Diaghilev and Stravinsky built on the triumph of The Firebird in the following Parisian seasons with the heady Petruschka and the earth-shattering Rite of Spring. But Stravinsky was not the only composer to be adopted by the great Russian impresario; Ravel too was working on what he called a symphonie chor茅ographique based on a story concerning the love between the goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chlo茅. Ravel's hour-long Daphnis et Chlo茅 is regarded by many as the refined Frenchman's orchestral masterpiece and its famous depiction of the sun rising at dawn must surely be one of the most magical moments in all music.
Also this week, a chance to hear Germany's leading period instrument ensemble in Haydn's last great work, his oratorio The Seasons.

Glazunov
The Seasons: Winter
Russian National Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev (conductor)

c2.10pm
Stravinsky
Suite from The Firebird (1919 version)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons (conductor)

2.45pm
Ravel
Daphnis et Chlo茅 "symphonie chor茅ographique"
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Hannu Lintu (conductor)

c. 3.45pm
Haydn
Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons), oratorio, Hob. XXI:3: Spring
Simon ..... Daniel Schmutzhard (baritone)
Hanne ..... Robin Johannsen (soprano)
Lukas ..... Daniel Behler ( tenor)
RIAS Chamber Choir
Akademie f眉r Alte Musik, Berlin
Hans-Christoph Rademann (conductor).