It is, of course, bonfire night tonight, and for most of us, that means fireworks. And so, here, to celebrate the evening, is my fantabulous phalanx of five fire-and-firework-inspired favourites; a full-on feast of fiery phonological fantasy for your festive fancy...
Oliver Knussen: Flourish with Fireworks
The 20th century's most colourful bangs and whizzes distilled into a few minutes of Knussen's vertiginous brilliance.
Stravinsky: Feu d'artifice
Exoticism, explosions, extraordinary virtuosity: what more do you want from an orchestral miniature? Stravinsky has it all!
Debussy: Feux d'artifice
Debussy makes a piano into the world's flashiest firecracker; brought to blazing life in Krystian Zimerman's hands.
Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks
Boom! Hervé Niquet turns the Royal Albert Hall into a theatre of extravagant musico-pyrotechnic spectacle.
Wagner: Magic Fire music from Die Walküre
Alright, so it doesn't actually involve colourful cordite, but Wagner's conjuring of an orchestral conflagration at the end of Die Walküre is quite possibly the most evocative fire music there is. Bryn Terfel navigates Robert LePage's "machine" on stage in this production from the Met.
