COMPOSERS: Hovhaness/Stravinsky/Prokofiev
LABELS: RCA Living Stereo
WORKS: Mysterious Mountain; The Fairy’s Kiss Divertimento; Lieutenant Kijé Suite
PERFORMER: Chicago SO/Fritz Reiner
CATALOGUE NO: 09026 61957 2 ADD (1957/58)
In a past review, I referred to Reiner’s ‘clarity, precision and flexible phrasing’, and all are conspicuous on this disc, as is his perfect control of balance and colour. Alan Hovhaness’s music is intensely individual though in no sense avant-garde, and it calls for the most subtle tonal shading. This it receives abundantly in Reiner’s engrossing account. The 24-minute Divertimento which Stravinsky drew from his full-length Tchaikovsky-based ballet The Fairy’s Kiss is recreated with equal finesse. The 1957 recording of Kijé has been reissued before. Wadham Sutton
Hovhaness/Stravinsky/Prokofiev
In a past review, I referred to Reiner’s ‘clarity, precision and flexible phrasing’, and all are conspicuous on this disc, as is his perfect control of balance and colour. Alan Hovhaness’s music is intensely individual though in no sense avant-garde, and it calls for the most subtle tonal shading. This it receives abundantly in Reiner’s engrossing account. The 24-minute Divertimento which Stravinsky drew from his full-length Tchaikovsky-based ballet The Fairy’s Kiss is recreated with equal finesse. The 1957 recording of Kijé has been reissued before. Wadham Sutton
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:39 pm