Petrouchka must be the piece of classical music I know best. I came to it — don't laugh — via an arrangement played by Jon Anderson's band at the Royal Albert Hall in 1980 (I wasn't there, but Capital Radio broadcast a recording of it on Easter Monday 1981, and I hope I've still got a tape of it somewhere).
Anyway, I got a copy of one of Stravinsky's versions. That is, I think I borrowed a copy from Woking Library, and taped it. Ah, every album I 'home taped' must have led directly to buying about another five.
I can't remember when I bought this legit copy. It must have been later in the '80s (it was £5.99 from HMV; this recording is no longer available, as far as I can tell). I got really clued up on this period of Stravinsky's work. I watched TV programmes about the roles of Diaghilev and Balanchine in staging productions of the Petrouchka, as well as The Firebird and The Rite of Spring.
If I say anything about the music, I'll just show how unsophisticated my appreciation is. It comes down to the tunes. The tunes, and the subtlety of the arrangements, such that the tunes disappear and then come back in a different place and a different voice. The melody in the fourth and final part is especially beautiful. By coincidence, a clip of this part is used in La Belle Noiseuse (one of only two minute-long bits of music in a four-hour film), which I saw just last Saturday with Jeremy. It's the opposite of what I said about Abba coming too soon: Stravinsky knows how to tease and flirt.
I've never seen the ballet performed live, though I saw an orchestra play it at the Barbican a couple of years ago, and Lucy and I are going again later this year.
 MusicBrainz entry for this album
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