Stravinskij Rachmaninoff Petrenko Andsnes

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) escaped the Bolsheviks and escaped by sea to America from Oslo in 1918, settling permanently in New York. His first piece following the crossing was his Piano Concerto No. 4 (1926), which is more jazzy and less well-known that his third piano concerto, but equally expressive and melodious, especially in the hands of an artist such as Andsnes.

Another Russian in exile, Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) revolutionised music with his ballets, which created a furore in Paris around the year 1910. In The Firebird (1910, 1919), Stravinsky leans on Rimsky-Korsakov’s storytelling tradiition, magical sounds, colourful orchestration and folk inspired melodies, with elements of modern gunpowder, particularly in the magician Kostschei’s Infernal Dance.

(Text: Thomas Erma Møller; Photo: Trygve Indrelid)