Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 11/26/2014, uploaded on 05/04/2015

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

I.   Danse russe (Russian Dance)
II.  Chez Pétrouchka (Petrushka's Room)
III. La semaine grasse (The Shrovetide Fair)

A decade after the ballet’s celebrated premiere in 1911, Stravinsky returned to the music of Petrushka to create a showpiece for pianist Arthur Rubinstein. The first excerpt, Russian Dance, comes from the end of the ballet’s first tableau, a scene at the fair in which Petrushka and his fellow puppets come to life and dance for the crowd. The second movement, Petrushka’s Room, goes inside the puppet theater to reveal the love triangle between Petrushka, the rival Moor, and the Ballerina they both desire. The discordant, rising triad figures near the beginning spell out the distinctive “Petrushka” chord that rings throughout the ballet. The third movement transcribes the merriment from the ballet’s final scene at the Shrovetide Fair, complete with gypsies, a dancing bear and a group of masqueraders.    (Program Notes by Aaron Grad)

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.