Stravinsky: Three Greek Ballets (Apollo, Agon, Orpheus)

Stravinsky: Three Greek Ballets (Apollo, Agon, Orpheus)

Stravinsky: Three Greek Ballets (Apollo, Agon, Orpheus)
List Price: $8.99
Our Price: $5.58
You Save: $3.41 (38%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.50 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Listen soundtracks from this album



(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

CD Details

Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Conductor: Robert Craft
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
Orchestra: Orchestra of St. Luke's
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-05-17
Music Label: Naxos
Soundtracks:
  1. Prologue: The Birth Of Apollo - London Symphony Orchestra
  2. Apollo's Variation - London Symphony Orchestra
  3. Pas D'Action: Apollo And the Muses - London Symphony Orchestra
  4. Variation Of Calliope - London Symphony Orchestra
  5. Variation Of Polymnia - London Symphony Orchestra
  6. Variation Of Terpsichore - London Symphony Orchestra
  7. Variation Of Apollo - London Symphony Orchestra
  8. Pas De Deux: Apollo And Terpsichore - London Symphony Orchestra
  9. Coda: Apollo And the Muses - London Symphony Orchestra
  10. Apotheosis: Apollo And the Muses - London Symphony Orchestra
  11. Pas De Quarte - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  12. Double Pas De Quarte - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  13. Triple Pas De Quarte - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  14. Prelude - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  15. First Pas De Trois: Saraband-Step - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  16. Gaillarde - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  17. Coda - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  18. Interlude - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  19. Second Pas De Trois: Bransle Simple - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  20. Bransle Gay - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  21. Bransle Double (Bransle De Poitou) - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  22. Interlude - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  23. Pas De Deux/Piu Mosso/L'Istesso Tempo/Refrain - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  24. Coda/Doppio Lento/Quasi Stretto/Coda - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  25. Four Duos - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  26. Four Trios - Orchestra Of St. Luke's
  27. Lento Sostenuto - London Symphony Orchestra
  28. Air De Danse - London Symphony Orchestra
  29. Dance Of the Angel Of Death - London Symphony Orchestra
  30. Interlude - London Symphony Orchestra
  31. Dance Of The Furies - London Symphony Orchestra
  32. Air De Danse - London Symphony Orchestra
  33. Interlude - London Symphony Orchestra
  34. Air De Danse - London Symphony Orchestra
  35. Pas D'Action - London Symphony Orchestra
  36. Pas De Deux - London Symphony Orchestra
  37. Interlude - London Symphony Orchestra
  38. Pas D'Action - London Symphony Orchestra
  39. Apotheosis - London Symphony Orchestra

Music reviews of Stravinsky: Three Greek Ballets (Apollo, Agon, Orpheus)

Music Review: TO LIVE WITH
Rating: 5 Stars

My conscience is quite clear in giving this disc a 5-star recommendation, just so long as I myself am clear who I am recommending it to. I do not presume to offer recommendations to those whose acquaintance with these scores is closer than my own. However for any music collectors who want a safe version to live with, and in particular if one version is all they want, this set ought to do very well indeed. As a conductor, Robert Craft was not born any Monteux or Boulez I dare say, but he was the composer's close friend and confidant, and judging his performances here just for themselves I do not wish to demean them with faint praise as being merely reliable. They are affectionate and beautiful readings, full of the understanding of the composer's mind that Craft was uniquely well placed to gain. The quality of the playing is good, as you would expect considering who the players are, the quality of the recording is good, as you would expect from sessions done in 1992 and 1995, and the quality of the liner note is what you would expect from Craft himself.

Craft knows all about the history of these works' composition. He is also of course enlightening when he discusses the changes in the master's musical idiom between 1927 and 1957, the earliest and latest dates of these three ballets. As can often happen with experts, he gets rather tied up in his own details, and nothing he says strikes me as blindingly revelatory. It is informed and sympathetic opinion, not some gospel so far as I am concerned. He also lets his own artsy chatter run away with him at times. For instance, just as I was getting my mind around the concept that `Apollo...is associated with the Oriental sacred number seven, which corresponds to the diatonic mode', I was hit in the next paragraph with the proposition that `Stravinsky may have been struck by such other parallels as the "threes" of the Muses, the Magi and triadic harmony'. Apart from anything else, there were nine Muses of whom Stravinsky selects three. To say that having selected three for himself he was then awestruck with their threeness is the sort of gush that should encourage us all not to surrender our critical faculties to any expert however eminent.

Apart from the soundness of this set in satisfying the basic requirements, it is of course another Naxos bargain, and let me repeat for the nth time my appreciation of the service that Naxos provides to lovers of good music. As well as that, it is a very coherent and thoughtful selection, as these three ballets, quite widely separated in date of composition and in compositional style, have an obvious common theme of Greek culture, and Craft quotes some interesting remarks of the composer's own about his view of that. These confirm what I, and I'm sure many others, see as the constant attributes of Stravinsky as a musical creator through all his stylistic changes, namely his love of balance and clarity. It seems to me that he got off on the wrong foot to some extent with the notorious riot at the premiere of the Rite of Spring. That uproar had more to do with the risqué choreography than with the music, the supposedly iconoclastic aspects of the score have been talked up in an exaggerated way, I can hardly imagine anyone these days thinking of it as radical in idiom, and the latest account of it that I have acquired, from Boulez, highlights for me its beauty and elegance, qualities that adorn all Stravinsky's music through all his changes of persona such as are presented to us on this disc.

You can believe the figure given on the back of the box for the playing time, namely 77 minutes 45 seconds. This is consistent with the playing time for Apollo given in the liner (which equates within one second to the timings quoted for the ten individual movements) and not with the shorter time stated on the box. Great value as I was saying, and even this discrepancy resolving in our favour.
More Stravinsky: Three Greek Ballets (Apollo, Agon, Orpheus) free music reviews:
1 2

Description of Stravinsky: Three Greek Ballets (Apollo, Agon, Orpheus)

All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.

Classical CDs

Music Genres
Bestsellers in Classical CDs
Winterscapes ImageWinterscapes
by London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops: $6.99
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebee ImageThe Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebee
by Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops: $13.98
Beethoven Lives Upstairs Cdr ImageClassical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs Cdr
Release date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $24.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos)) ImageTchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))
by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] ImageJose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]
Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops: $9.99
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] ImageTchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.89
Price in other shops: $29.95
Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] ImageRambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops: $29.95
Winter Music: Composing the North ImageWinter Music: Composing the North
by John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.90
Price in other shops: $25.95
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] ImagePuccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops: $29.95
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] ImageVerdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops: $29.95
Similar CDs
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring / The Nightingale ImageStravinsky: The Rite of Spring / The Nightingale
Alfred Publishing; Release date: 2005-09-20; Music CD
Best price: $5.53
Price in other shops: $8.99
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms ImageStravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Naxos; Release date: 2006-10-31; Music CD
Best price: $4.93
Price in other shops: $8.99
Elliott Carter: String Quartets Nos. 2, 3 and 4 ImageCarter, Pacifica Quartet - Elliott Carter: String Quartets Nos. 2, 3 and 4
Release date: 2009-02-24; Music CD
Best price: $5.91
Price in other shops: $8.99
Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky: Petrushka / Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) ImageStravinsky Conducts Stravinsky: Petrushka / Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring)
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $6.33
Price in other shops: $8.99
Stravinsky and the Ballets Russes: The Firebird/Le Sacre du Printemps ImageStravinsky and the Ballets Russes: The Firebird/ Le Sacre du Printemps
Release date: 2009-10-27; DVD
Best price: $20.80
Price in other shops: $29.99
Stravinsky - Oedipus Rex · Les Noces ImageStravinsky - Oedipus Rex · Les Noces
Release date: 2005-01-18; Music CD
Best price: $5.18
Price in other shops: $8.99
Stravinsky: Later Ballets ImageStravinsky: Later Ballets
Release date: 2007-12-11; Music CD
Best price: $4.63
Price in other shops: $10.98
Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms/Symphony in 3 Movements ImageStravinsky Conducts Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms/ Symphony in 3 Movements
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $4.57
Price in other shops: $7.99
Stravinsky: Symphony in C; Symphony In Three Movements ImageStravinsky: Symphony in C; Symphony In Three Movements
Release date: 2009-01-27; Music CD
Best price: $5.56
Price in other shops: $8.99
Stravinsky: Pulcinella; The Fairy's Kiss ImageStravinsky: Pulcinella; The Fairy's Kiss
Release date: 2006-01-17; Music CD
Best price: $5.20
Price in other shops: $8.99
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles