Q.1
What is the technical term for the 'glide' (usually upwards) played by a harpist ~ as, here, 30-and-a-few seconds into the performance?
  • Crescendo
  • Glissando
  • Sforzando
  • Rallentando
Q.2
How many separate harp parts are going on within all this, in the original version?
  • Just one
  • A couple
  • Three
  • Four
Q.3
The piece was originally the last section within a longer work: what kind of work?
  • Opera
  • Oratorio
  • Symphony
  • Ballet
Q.4
At around 1'45" the tune is 'thrown around' more boldly between some more noble and assertive instruments: which are they?
  • Bassoon and cymbals
  • Trumpets and kettledrums
  • Horns and castanets
  • Guitars and drums
Q.5
Which is the correct order in which these instruments are significantly heard in the first minute of the piece?
  • Flute, harp, strings (violins), horn
  • Harp, horn, violins, flute
  • Horn, harp, violins, flute
  • Violins, flute, horn, harp
Q.6
During the long opening buildup of this piece, many of the instruments play not just 'straight' notes, but with a quivering texture according to their technique (jiggling their bows, fluttering their tongues or whatever). This helps create a sense of excitement and tension, perhaps even of the sight of the Firebird rising amid flickering flame. What is the technical musical term for such a manner of playing?
  • Trill
  • Tremolando
  • Aquiver
  • Shaken
Q.7
Appropriately, this music was used to accompany the lighting of the torch at a recent Olympiad ... in which year and city?
  • Beijing 2008
  • Vancouver 2010 (winter)
  • London 2012
  • Sochi 2014 (winter)
Q.8
The underlying rhythm in the early stages of this piece is steady but very relaxed. How many beats are there to the bar?
  • Two
  • Three
  • Four
  • Six
Q.9
What was the name of the Russian ballet boss who commissioned Stravinsky to write , which in turn was the composer's 'breakthrough' piece into the musical world of Paris and beyond?
  • Artur Rubinstein
  • Sergei Diaghilev
  • Pablo Picasso
  • Anatoly Nikinsky
Q.10
Sometimes in music a pattern 'gets stuck' (like the repeated rhythm in Holst's ); sometimes one note or pitch clings on while the rest of the music rises or drops against it. In the Finale there is a lowish drone early on, but the last-but-one chord (just before the 3-minute mark) arrives while the trumpets have been hanging onto one note against all opposition. What is the technical term for such a musical device?
  • Ostinato
  • Pedal
  • Tenuto
  • Crescendo
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