Firebird

preconcert talk one hour before the concert with Michael Kube

It’s a feather that rescues the young Prince Ivan from the fearsome sorcerer Kashchei. Menaced by demons in battle and close to death, he calls upon the firebird to help him using the magic feather. In Igor Stravinsky’s ballet music of the same name, the exotically shimmering bird compels the sorcerer to dance with his iridescent sounds and sings him to sleep with a song. At that, Prince Ivan succeeds in releasing his beloved, the enchanted Princess Tsarevna, from his dark clutches. Peter Tchaikovsky also described his 1stPiano Concerto as a »battle«. The French horns open up the arena Intimidatingly and extremely powerfully: fortissimo chords in the orchestra alternate with forceful cascades of sound in the piano. Here evil is not struggling with good, but rather a »battle between two equal forces« is taking place, as Tchaikovsky said. Conductor Stanislav Kochanovsky and pianist Yulianna Avdeeva will reveal how much endlessly beautiful poetry there is in this struggle at their Gürzenich debut. The Gürzenich Orchestra will bring together two  masterpieces of russian music. We are collecting for disadvantaged children and youths. ► »wir helfen«