GIL SHAHAM & PETRUSHKA cutting edge of the European arts scene . His first Diaghilev project was modest — a pair of Chopin orchestrations in 1909 — but he followed up with entirely original scores that remain classics : Firebird ( 1910 ), Petrushka ( 1911 ), The Rite of Spring ( 1913 ), The Nightingale ( 1914 ), Pulcinella ( 1920 ), Mavra ( 1922 ), Reynard ( 1922 ), The Wedding ( 1923 ), Oedipus Rex ( 1927 ), and Apollo ( 1928 ).
He worked on Petrushka from August 1910 through May 1911 , and later wrote of how the idea for the piece coalesced : “ I had in my mind a distinct picture of a puppet , suddenly endowed with life , exasperating the patience of the orchestra with diabolical cascades of arpeggi . The orchestra in turn retaliates with menacing trumpet-blasts . The outcome is a terrific noise which reaches its climax and ends in the sorrowful and querulous collapse of the poor puppet .… One day I leapt for joy . I had indeed found my title — Petrushka , the immortal and unhappy hero of every fair in all countries .”
The scenario for Petrushka unrolls through four scenes set in St . Petersburg in the 1830s . As crowds stroll through the Shrove-tide Fair on a sunny winter day , a showman introduces the characters of his puppet show : Petrushka , the Ballerina , and the Moor . The puppets astonish everyone by stepping out from their little box-theater and dancing all on their own . Socially awkward Petrushka loves the Ballerina , but she is attracted to the Moor . Back at the fair , in the evening , a commotion breaks out ; in a jealous encounter , Petrushka is slain by the Moor , who escapes with the Ballerina . Petrushka dies in the snow , but the puppet-master urges the onlookers not to worry — that it was merely a puppet made of wood and sawdust . The crowds withdraw , but in the end Petrushka ’ s ghost jeers sardonically from the roof of the little theatre .
In 1947 , after Petrushka had long been established as a staple of ballet repertoire , Stravinsky revised his score , making its orchestra smaller and refining the piece in ways that seem biased more toward concert performance than toward the descriptive
style of the stage . In this concert , however , we return to the composer ’ s initial orchestration , which is inventive and colorful to the point of extravagance .
Instrumentation : Four flutes ( two doubling piccolos ), four oboes ( fourth doubling English horn ), four clarinets ( fourth doubling bass clarinet ), four bassoons ( fourth doubling contrabassoon ), four horns , two cornets , two trumpets ( first doubling trumpet in D ), three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion ( bass drum , cymbals , tamtam , triangle , tambourine , snare drum , xylophone , glockenspiel , offstage snare drum and tambourine ), celesta ( two-hands and four-hands ), piano , two harps , and strings .
JAMES M . KELLER , the longtime Program Annotator of the San Francisco Symphony and for 25 years Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic , is the author of Chamber Music : A Listener ’ s Guide ( Oxford University Press ).
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