In 1910, innovative young Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes, to create a completely new score. The dazzling result was The Firebird, which brought overnight success to its creator and distinguished him as the most gifted of the younger generation of Russian composers. According to Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the piece, based on a series of Russian fairy tales, has "all the coloring of a Russian child's picture book . . . brilliant orchestration, glowing color . . . an extraordinary evocative...