6 April marks exactly 50 years since the death of the great Igor Stravinsky. We pick out 5 brilliant live performances of his works for you to enjoy
1. The Rite of Spring – London Symphony Orchestra
We start with one of his most famous works, The Rite of Spring.
Here, the London Symphony Orchestra are conducted by Sir Simon Rattle at The Barbican in 2017.
2. Trois mouvements de Petrouchka pour piano – Daniil Trifonov
Trifonov never fails to impress.
Enjoy his stunning performance of Stravinsky's three Petrouchka movements, live from New York's Carnegie Hall in 2016.
Trifonov performs the movements on his 2020 DG release, Silver Age.
3. Stravinsky Memorial Concert
A year and two days after Stravinsky's death, Leonard Bernstein conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a memorial service.
Repertoire included The Rite of Spring, Capriccio for Piano, and Orchestra Symphony of Psalms.
1 hour and 20 minutes to enjoy here.
4. The Firebird – Vienna Philharmonic
Russian maestro Valery Gergiev conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in a powerful presentation of Stravinsky's Firebird, live at the Salzburg Festival in 2000.
5. Petrouchka First Movement – Grigory Sokolov
We may have already included a performance of Petrouchka earlier on, but this video of Sokolov performing the first movement was too good to not include.
What an incredible performances from the Russian.
The date and location of the video are unknown.
Enjoy the complete recordings of all the works Stravinsky made for CBS/American Columbia during his career. This collection brings together all of the mono “Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky” recordings issued in the 1940s and 1950s alongside the more familiar stereo remakes from the 1960s, as well as all the authorized performances that Stravinsky’s assistant Robert Craft conducted for the label in the composer’s presence, after age and infirmity had restricted his own ability to do so.
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