Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps (Rite of Spring) / Mussorgsky: A Night on Bald Mountain / Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin- Suite

Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps (Rite of Spring) / Mussorgsky: A Night on Bald Mountain / Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin- Suite

Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps (Rite of Spring) / Mussorgsky: A Night on Bald Mountain / Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin- Suite
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CD Details

Brand: STRAVINSKY,I.
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Composer: Bela Bartok
Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen
Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
CD Release Date: 2006-10-10
Music Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Soundtracks:
  1. A Night on the Bare Mountain - Original Version
  2. Suite
  3. Introduction
  4. The Harbingers of Spring, Dance of the Adolescents
  5. Mock Abduction
  6. Spring Rounds
  7. Games of the Rival Tribes
  8. Procession of the Sage
  9. The Sage
  10. Dance of the Earth
  11. Introduction
  12. Mystical Circle of the Adolescents
  13. Glorification of the Chosen One
  14. Evocation of the Ancestors
  15. Ritual of the Ancestors
  16. Sacrificial Dance (The Chosen One)

Music reviews of Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps (Rite of Spring) / Mussorgsky: A Night on Bald Mountain / Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin- Suite

Music Review: Very Good, but The Rite may be a different composition
Rating: 4 Stars

Moussorgsky's 1867 orchestral version of Night on Bare Mountain (presumably the one presented on this disk) is, to say the least, fascinating in contrast to the familiar Rimsky rendition. The latter work - they really are two distinct compositions, as even a casual listen discloses - is a solid, fluent, refined and polished concert piece (as one would expect from the master composer and orchestrator), while Moussorgsky's is elemental - rough edged and earthy, really "foreign" sounding to a listener accustomed to Western European norms and conventions. The composer's version fascinated me and also bewildered. I loved the intense, have-at-it passion and swagger, then thrown by too-many-times repeated sections, fascinated, puzzled, and so on, nearly worn out by the end, but wanting to hear it again right away? Definitely have a listen, it's well worth it at least once.

If you haven't heard The Miraculous Mandarin suite, boy oh boy are you in for a ride. It's wild, weird, passionately erotic, and not a little spooky. It's one of those pieces, very like Stravinsky's Rite, that in a good performance (Salonen's is stunning and really stunningly recorded) my hair stands on end and I've got goose bumps every time. Thankfully by now there are several very good, well-recorded performances on disk, among them Charles Dutoit's with the Montreal Symphony, and that conducted by Jean Martinon with the Chicago Symphony on RCA (if it's still available). In addition to the almost frighteningly intense playing of the Chicago Symphony for the Martinon, RCA's recording engineers conjured an equally frightening, in your face sound that is hot, humid, and lurid; maybe it was intentional, but it works fabulously. It's not your average recording, whether it appeals to you or not.

Many thanks to __ for your very valuable, informative, in depth review of the LAPhil/Salonen Rite of Spring. You clarify so much of what makes the several versions different, in a way it is possible for me to hear and imagine. That says a lot about a music critic in my book! I'm sorry you are disappointed with it for the reasons you give, but certainly understand. I have a couple of "issues" of my own that shouldn't deter anyone from buying this disk, since it is spectacularly fine. Another reviewer suggests this release is warrants becoming a milestone in recording history, and I'm inclined to agree, for the reasons given elsewhere. It's remarkable that the same ballet which set the 20th century (Western European) music world on fire, may do so again in the 21st century, by crashing through old, wearied assumptions regarding the classical music "canon," as well as the role of composers, performers, listeners, venues, and media. Extraordinary!

All that said, I have considerations about the performance of this Rite that may just reflect some conservative attitudes I'm holding to. Salonen's interpretation is very good, but it's not the be all end all I see several reviewer's here think it is. It may be, for practical purposes, a standard to compare other readings to, but it has its limits, too.

A fine composer himself, Salonen feels and knows the guts of another composer's work, so he can't be faulted for missing a host of nuances of rhythm and phrasing because he doesn't get them. Yet he sands down the details of Stravinsky's Rite to obtain a sleek, aerodynamic flow; and those details are an integral part of Stravinsky's composition, not Salonen's. So I suppose what we have here is a composer's reading of another composer's music resulting in a third composition, the Salonen/Stravinsky Rite of Spring. It's a striking work in its own right (no pun intended) but it doesn't represent Stravinsky's ideas near accurately.
It isn't a simple matter of a different interpretation (though Salonen takes a strong, forceful point of view and presents it straightforwardly), rather a distinct one, a major review, and recreation of the Rite. Therefore, it must be judged on its own terms as much or more than Stravinsky's.

My reaction to this recording is very positive, and may over time become more and more so (or less so, of course, but I think the positive trend likelier). But, if you want to hear more of Stravinsky's work than the hybrid, there are quite a number of excellent to outstanding recordings to choose from.* If you are satisfied with this disk and don't want to try another for now, that's more than good enough to stick with this one. The sound is spectacular, but here too there are many other concert halls waiting for your audition if you choose. Disney is unusually fine and is also a new direction in concert hall concept and design, full of potential, much of which hasn't yet to be conceived, tried, and realized.

This CD aims forward to find new ground and mark new parameters for musical creation and re-creation. I hope that this release might also shed some light backward, where curiosity about great recorded performances in the past will lead to unexpected discoveries and pleasures there.

* Two personal favorite Rites of mine are Pierre Boulez conducting the Cleveland Symphony (once on Sony Classics) and my favorite of favorites, with Pierre Monteux conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The latter is mono sound, not the best but plenty good enough to reveal an almost shockingly primal interpretation-it all hangs out here, let me tell you, with fierce intensity and abandon one moment, fecund sensuality next, all caught up in a fevered unconscious drama of play and dance.
More Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps (Rite of Spring) / Mussorgsky: A Night on Bald Mountain / Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin- Suite free music reviews:
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Description of Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps (Rite of Spring) / Mussorgsky: A Night on Bald Mountain / Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin- Suite

This is Esa-Pekka SalonenÂ?s debut live recording from the Walt Disney Concert Hall and his first recording as the principal conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on DG. The central piece, StravinskyÂ?s Le Sacre du printemps was conducted by Salonen on the inaugural night of the Hall in 2003, a masterpiece that becomes something of a miracle within the outstanding acoustics of the Walt Disney Hall. This recording captures the energy, beauty and musical power of this extraordinary collaboration.

To capture the full sound experience of this concert, DG delivers this recording on a hybrid SACD. This release is certain to be a superior musical experience if not the new reference recording of this classical music milestone. Other pieces on this release are Mussorgsky�s Night on Bald Mountain and Bartók�s Miraculous Mandarin Suite�works that benefit greatly from the superb acoustics at the Walt Disney Concert Hall as well as the highest possible recording sound quality.

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