Known for his invigorating conducting and creative programming, Hugh Wolff returns to Aspen for Stravinksy’s brilliantly orchestrated ballet, his first big hit. A devilishly arpeggiated piano solo portrays the grotesque puppet Petrushka as he ponders his inability to win the love of a ballerina, whose dance with Petrushka’s rival the Moor is introduced by a dazzling high trumpet solo. The idea for the piece was the composer’s own, and he wrote to his mother, “My Petrushka is turning out each day completely new, and there are new disagreeable traits in his character, but he delights me because he is absolutely devoid of hypocrisy.”
