A transformative force in music, dance and the visual arts, the Ballets russes was founded in Paris in 1909 by the visionary impresario Serge Diaghilev. Innovative and flamboyant, he had a genius for bringing together the most brilliant composers, dancers, choreographers and designers, for nurturing creativity, and for galvanising audiences. Emblematic of the influence of the Ballets russes was the 1913 premiere of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps: it caused a notorious scandal, but it also changed musical history. This 22-CD set traces the company’s path through the 20 years of its existence – a tumultuous, but artistically fertile period – and comprises every Ballet russes score that has ever been recorded. Encompassing epoch-making works and rarities awaiting rediscovery, it offers a number of CD premieres and landmark interpretations by major musicians of the 78, LP and digital eras.

Serge Diaghilev (1872-1929): the impresario who changed musical history
31 March 2022 marks the 150th anniversary of the flamboyant, visionary and influential impresario Serge Diaghilev, founder of the legendary Ballets russes.

Born Sergei Diaghilev near Novgorod in north-west Russia, he grew up in an artistic environment in the city of Perm. He became a cultural entrepreneur while a student in St Petersburg and in 1899 was appointed to a managerial role at Russia’s Imperial Theatres.

In 1906 he promoted Russian art and sculpture at the Salon d’automne in Paris, which in the early 20th century was the world’s capital of culture. He continued to be active in Paris: the following year he mounted concerts with such Russian artists as the composers Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov and Glazunov, and the singers Feodor Chaliapin and Félia Litvinne. In 1908, at the Paris Opéra, he staged Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov with Chaliapin. The designs were by two Russian artists – Leon Bakst and Alexandre Benois – who became closely associated with the Ballets russes company, which Diaghilev founded in Paris in 1909.

The Ballets russes: a transformative force in 20th century musical and visual culture
For two decades, in a period of rich cultural ferment, dramatic transition and geo-political upheaval, the Ballets russes created a sensation with its innovative fusion of dance, music and design. In 1929, when the company disbanded following Diaghilev’s death, it had played a crucial role in the evolution of the performing and visual arts.

While the company’s repertoire included such classic ballets as Giselle, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, it built its particular reputation on new works whose themes ranged from Russia, the Classical world and the Orient to contemporary films, beach culture and sport.

A list of the best-known artists associated with the Ballets russes provides ample evidence of the company’s importance and influence. It also bears witness to Diaghilev’s genius for attracting and combining talent, and to the creative excellence he nurtured.
• Composers commissioned by Diaghilev for the Ballets russes included Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, Strauss, Satie, Prokofiev, Poulenc, Falla, Respighi, Dukas, Milhaud, Auric and Schmitt. Among the landmark works premiered by the Ballets russes were: Stravinsky’s Firebird, Petrushka, Le Sacre du printemps (Rite of Spring), Les Noces and Pulcinella; Debussy’s Jeux; Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé; Satie’s Parade and Falla’s El sombrero de tres picos (Three-cornered Hat).
• Décors and costumes for Ballets russes productions were conceived by such artists and designers as: Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Utrillo, de Chirico, Ernst, Miró, Derain, Rouault, Bakst, Benois, Roerich, Golovin, Goncharova, Gabo, Pevsner and Chanel.
• Dancers and choreographers associated with the company included: Vaslav Nijinsky, Bronislava Nijinska, Michel Fokine, Georges Balanchine, Léonide Massine, Serge Lifar, Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Ida Rubinstein, Marie Rambert, Ninette de Valois and Anton Dolin.
• Scenarios were written for the Ballets russes by, among others, Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Jean Cocteau, to whom Diaghilev famously said, “Étonne-moi, j'attendrai que tu m'étonnes” (“Astonish me, I will wait for you to astonish me”).
• Among the Ballets russes’ conductors were: Pierre Monteux, Ernest Ansermet, Igor Markevitch, and Roger Désormière.
Though its initial base was in Paris, over its existence the Ballets russes also appeared in North and South America, the UK, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Monte Carlo.

Diaghilev – Ballets russes: a 22-CD chronological survey of ballet and opera
This set traces the 20-year life of the Ballets russes, season by season, through recordings, and comprises every Ballet russes score that has ever been recorded:
• Iconic ballet scores premiered by the Ballets russes that remain prominent in the performing repertoire: Stravinsky’s Firebird, Petrushka, Le Sacre du printemps (Rite of Spring), Les Noces, Pulcinella and Apollon musagète; Debussy’s Jeux; Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé; Satie’s Parade; Falla’s El sombrero de tres picos, Poulenc’s Les Biches …
• Classic ballet scores: Adam’s Giselle, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from his opera Prince Igor.
• Orchestral works that were used for ballets e.g. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Debussy’s Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune; Berlioz’s orchestration of Weber, L’Invitation à la valse, which became the ballet Le Spectre de la rose; Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bare Mountain; Liadov’s Kikimora and Baba-Yaga, and Balakirev’s symphonic poem Tamara (Thamar).
• Important ballet scores that are relatively rarely performed e.g. Prokoviev’s Chout, Le Pas d’acier and The Prodigal Son, Dukas’s La Péri, Schmitt’s La Tragédie de Salomé, Strauss’s Josephslegende and Milhaud’s Le Train bleu (which is less familiar to the public than Picasso’s famous design for its stage curtain).
• Rare ballet scores, such as: Satie’s Mercure; Tcherepnin’s Narcisse et Echo and Le Pavillon d’Armide; Auric’s Les Fâcheux; Sauget’s La Chatte; Schumann’s piano suite Carnaval in orchestral arrangements by a number of Russian composers including Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Liadov.
• Operas: Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol; Scenes from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov sung by Feodor Chaliapin (whose association with Diaghilev predated the Ballets russes), recorded in 1928 and 1931.

The set contains two recordings of Le Sacre du printemps; the epoch-making work, which caused a notorious scandal when it was premiered in Paris in 1913, is credited with sparking a musical revolution:
1. Conducted by Pierre Monteux, who conducted the premiere in 1913; recorded in Paris in 1929 with the Grand Orchestre Symphonique;
2. Conducted by Igor Markevitch, who, as a 16-year-old composer, was discovered by Diaghilev shortly before the impresario’s death in 1929; recorded in 1959 with the Philharmonia Orchestra

Recordings in the set have been sourced from the Warner Classics catalogue and, where necessary, from the catalogues of other labels (e.g. Decca, Chandos, Naxos, La Guilde internationale du disque). Recordings making their first appearance on CD (i.e. CD premieres) are:
CD 4: Schumann - Carnaval
- Philharmonia Orchestra/Robert Irving
CD 9: Balakirev - Thamar (Tamara)
- Philharmonia/Lovro von Matačić
CD 13: Respighi/Rossini - La Boutique fantasque
- Philharmonia/Alceo Galliera
CD 20: Beecham/Handel - The Gods go a’Begging
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Thomas Beecham

Communication and social media
The writer and broadcaster Jon Tolansky, also author of the liner notes, produced on purpose 11 podcasts about Diaghilev and the Ballet russes; the podcasts will be promoted on social media. Each podcast focuses on a specific Ballets russes season and/or iconic ballets and features commentary from distinguished figures from the worlds of dance and music, including Dame Marie Rambert, who danced with the Ballets russes:
- 1. Preview of the series
- 2. Before the Ballets Russes: Sergei Diaghilev from 1872 to 1909
- 3. 1909: Opening season
- 4. 1910: Scheherazade and L’Oiseau de feu (the Firebird)
- 5. 1911: Petrushka
- 6. 1912: Daphnis et Chloé and L’Apres-midi d’un faune
- 7. 1913: Jeux and Le Sacre du printemps
- 8. 1917: Parade
- 9. 1919: El sombrero de tres picos (Le Tricorne – The Three-cornered Hat)
- 10. 1923: Svadebka (Les Noces – The Wedding)
- 11. 1924 to 1929: Finale – Les Biches, Le Fils prodigue, and death of Sergei Diaghilev