Stravinsky: The Firebird; The Rite of Spring

The mystique goes without saying. The reality is straight down-the-line, no-frills performances of forceful directness and high energy levels. Distinctly on the loud side, they include some interesting balances that you could never hear live, such as woodwind lines cutting through a dense, full orchestra, and a few rough chords as at the end of The Rite. It’s hard at this historical distance to disentangle special insight from studio quirks, but the voltage levels remain undimmed with the years. Robert Maycock

Our rating

4

Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:28 pm

COMPOSERS: Stravinsky
LABELS: Sony
WORKS: The Firebird; The Rite of Spring
PERFORMER: Columbia SO/Igor Stravinsky
CATALOGUE NO: SMK 60011 ADD 1960/61

The mystique goes without saying. The reality is straight down-the-line, no-frills performances of forceful directness and high energy levels. Distinctly on the loud side, they include some interesting balances that you could never hear live, such as woodwind lines cutting through a dense, full orchestra, and a few rough chords as at the end of The Rite. It’s hard at this historical distance to disentangle special insight from studio quirks, but the voltage levels remain undimmed with the years. Robert Maycock

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