Writing Petrushka liberated Stravinsky: he found his own voice and self-confidence to deal with harmony and tonality in a radically different way. He mixed folk tunes, popular French chanson and Viennese waltzes in a colourful orchestration, used sharp dissonances and contrasting rhythms, making the orchestra sound like a gigantic accordion one minute and a balalaika the next. A real tour de force and the creation of the exciting and unprecedented soundscape with which Stravinsky would change the world forever.