This week, audiences have the unique opportunity to compare the Minnesota Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as they share the stage performing works by Stravinsky. Both organizations were under the baton of SPCO Artistic Partner Roberto Abbado, but the orchestra edged out SPCO, primarily because it performed the greater work.

The program Thursday night at Orchestra Hall included two ballets that Stravinsky wrote for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris. They are usually presented in abbreviated suites. These rare performances of the complete scores gave a clearer picture of Stravinsky's dramatic and musical architecture.

The Minnesota Orchestra performed "The Firebird," premiered in 1910. Based on a Russian folktale, it is a nationalistic work, on the cusp between Romanticism and modernism. Stravinsky was an unknown when Diaghilev took a chance on him, and he used the opportunity to turn out the kind of dazzling sounds that put him on the map.

From the shimmering "Dance of the Firebird" to the deeply moving horn solos accompanying "The Sudden Appearance of Prince Ivan," to the threatening brass fanfares characterizing the villain, this is some exquisite orchestral storytelling.

Abbado conducted with a sure command of the large climaxes, but brought a chamber music-like clarity to the delicate numbers. He lingered on many of the bewitching orchestral details without losing dramatic momentum. The orchestra responded with precision and passion.

"Pulcinella," premiered in 1920, was the fruit of a Diaghilev-inspired love of Baroque composer Giovanni Pergolesi. Using Pergolesi's themes liberated Stravinsky to focus on creating a diversity of instrumental sonorities.

SPCO brought a plush sound that resonated both the 20th century and the 18th. Abbado delivered a crisp reading that captured the commedia dell'arte theatricality of the score. The winds, in particular, shone -- the brass, less so.

A special treat of the complete ballet was the inclusion of eight songs for various combinations of mezzo-soprano, tenor and bass. Abigail Nims, Joseph Kaiser and Jason Grant, respectively, were not stellar vocalists, but had warm, lyric instruments that fit nicely into the orchestral fabric.

William Randall Beard writes regularly about music.