This album features performances of less frequently recorded orchestral works by Igor Stravinsky. They showcase the versatility of the Russian composer, who was never a supporter of any particular genre of aesthetic expression. On the contrary, he saw composing as an intellectual game, an attempt to solve self-imposed musical problems that could be kindled equally by Italian Baroque music, by the polyphonic structures of the Renaissance, by jazz, or by Anton Webern’s serial tone complexes.

As both an opera conductor, orchestra director, festival director and author, Ingo Metzmacher is noted for his consistent and especial commitment to 20th- and 21st-century music. He is a frequent guest conductor of major orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Ensemble Modern, as well as at opera houses and festivals such as the Vienna State Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the Salzburg Festival and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.