Finale from The Firebird Suite: Concert Band Conductor Score

Michael Story's arrangement captures the visceral excitement of Stravinsky's original without losing the sophisticated orchestration that makes this finale so rewarding to conduct. At Grade 3, you get a legitimate major work that challenges your ensemble on musical interpretation and ensemble blend rather than technical pyrotechnics, making it an ideal centerpiece for a concert program. The updated percussion writing feels contemporary while honoring Stravinsky's rhythmic innovations.

Brilliant and kinetic from the opening, this finale crackles with the rhythmic energy that defined Stravinsky's early twentieth-century voice. The constantly shifting instrumental colors and dialogue between brass, woodwinds, and percussion create a sense of theatrical inevitability, building to moments of pure orchestral exuberance that feel both wild and carefully controlled.

Conductors programming a concert band at the intermediate level who want to feature a work with genuine musical substance and orchestral sophistication. This arrangement suits ensembles ready to tackle ensemble balance, dynamic control, and stylistic awareness without requiring virtuoso soloists or extreme ranges.

• Shape the brass passages with careful dynamic gradation rather than playing them as single blocks of sound; the interplay between sections creates the momentum Stravinsky intended.
• Lock the timpani and percussion parts tightly with your conducting; their rhythmic precision is essential to the piece's propulsive character and articulation of harmonic changes.
• Emphasize the woodwind countermelodies in the middle sections; they often carry motivic material that the audience expects to hear clearly even when the brass is prominent.

Reserve this as a concert finale where you want to send the audience out energized and impressed by your ensemble's musicianship. It pairs beautifully with contemporary works or lighter fare earlier in the program, allowing you to demonstrate the breadth of your group's capabilities in a single major work.

• Dynamic control across sustained passages and rapid changes
• Ensemble balance with multiple simultaneous rhythmic figures
• Stylistic understanding of twentieth-century orchestration and Stravinsky's compositional approach
• Precision in coordinating complex percussion parts with melodic voices
• Interpretation of score details and Story's arrangement choices