Customer Reviews

Rite of Springs

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Having kids, one is greatly in debt to the vision of Walt Disney. But as I grew up and listened to the recording of "Le Sacre" by Stravinsky, I realized that Disney did a great disservice to the ballet score. Even with Stravinsky conducting, I couldn't get dinosaurs out of my mind. Then I got the Rattle recording. No more dinosaurs. Instead, primitive rythms, dances, terror and a sacrificial virgin come forth. The ballet by Diagalev is back. And the score is reborn. Rattle brings out the brutality of the score, and the Birmingham Symphony plays as the world-class orchestra that it is. I have often held that certain conductors understand certain composers: Solti understood Brahms; Kurt Masur understands Mendelssohn; and Rattle understands Stravinsky. The clarity, the phrasing, and again, the brutality is there. Thank God, no more DINOSAURS!

Stravinsky's 1940 recordings of "Rite" and "Petrushka" are magnificent. I won't go on at length because this disc is apparently deleted, but I don't know why the Petrushka is never mentioned in round-ups of the best recordings (unless it's because it's only around half the music). Half or no half, this Petrushka is gripping and a lot better recorded than you're expecting. Maybe Naxos or some other historical label will reissue it.