[Thor Joachim Haga]

Interesting how we can read a piece differently. I’ve had FIREBIRD for many years (on the Michael Tilson Thomas 3CD set that also includes THE RITE OF SPRING and PERSPEPHONE), and I’ve never once thought it resembled film music. It simply moves too fluidly along, from segment to segment. But I’ve obviously heard bits and pieces with a dramatic, storytelling flair. And for RITE, there’s that whole JAWS ostinato, of course, that gets film music associations going. Plus the use in FANTASIA. So that one is one of those ‘borderlines’.