NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Esa-Pekka Salonen

Among the Icelandic composers, Anna Thorvaldsdottier and Haukur Tómasson are probably the best-known. Tómasson cites Igor Stravinsky as the composer who had the greatest influence on him. The German weekly paper »Die Zeit« said of Thorvaldsdottier’s music that it was »as surreal as the northern lights«. Her piece »Aeriality« gives a good impression of this: »Aeriality refers to the state of gliding through the air with nothing to hang on to«, the composer explains. »The music describes this state of total freedom – and the uneasy feeling that accompanies it.«

»Look at him: this is a man on the brink of fame« - thus, the story goes, the impresario Sergei Diaghilev on 25 June 1910 talking about his protégé Stravinsky, one day before the première of the latter’s »Firebird«. The next day saw the beginning of Igor Stravinsky’s rise to fame. Exactly what the composer was thinking of when he penned the score describing the mythical struggle between Prince Ivan and the wicked sorcerer Koschei is shown by a unique recording from the year 1929: Stravinsky made a pianola roll of the entire ballet, with comments on every scene. If you only know the abridged concert suite, there’s a lot you’re missing. All the better, then, that Esa-Pekka Salonen performs the complete ballet score on this occasion.