Stravinsky The Firebird

Andrew Litton conducts the classic Firebird Suite, drawn from the dazzling ballet that shot Stravinsky into the 20th-century classical music pantheon almost overnight. The Seattle Symphony Chorale joins the orchestra for Poulenc's first choral work with orchestra, the 12-movement Stabat Mater — penned in response to the sudden death of his friend. Poulenc was inspired by his pilgrimage to the holy shrine of the Black Madonna of Rocamadour, which reinvigorated his Catholic faith, and the medieval Stabat Mater hymn to the Virgin Mary.