Mozart and Stravinsky

With these concerts, Ryan Bancroft completes his first season as chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. And he does so with a key number that is close to his heart: Stravinsky’s The Firebird – not the often-played suite, but the complete ballet music from 1910. “It’s an enormous orchestra and the best version,” says Bancroft. 

This also marks a step in the recordings of Stravinsky’s ballets Petrushka, The Firebird and The Rite of Spring – Bancroft and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s first recordings together. 

It is possible that Lili Boulanger heard at least one of these Stravinsky ballets, all of which premiered in her home city of Paris in the early twentieth century. First, we hear Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps – one of the last works this young genius composed before passing away much too young in 1918, at just 24 years old. Despite the circumstances, this is bright music with light and playful steps.  

Åland-born soprano Sofie Asplund is doubly present in Konserthuset this season: both in a lied concert and on this occasion, when she sings arias by Mozart. Asplund has garnered a great deal of acclaim in recent years and has been praised for several of her interpretations of roles on Sweden’s opera stages.