Synopsis
Tonight’s Prom marks the first instalment of all three of Stravinsky’s landmark ballets for the Ballet Russes company, all performed this weekend by Scottish orchestras. In the vivid folk tale of a puppet springing to life, Stravinsky had the starting point for his stylistic breakthrough, Petrushka, a ballet that would depict Russia with ‘quick tempos, smells of Russian food, sweat and glistening leather boots’. The first part of a new work from major talent Helen Grime (see also Prom 30) prefaces this concert’s arrival in Russia via all the despair, passion and determination of Tchaikovsky’s heart-rending Violin Concerto.