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3.0 out of 5 stars
Notes on My Very First Recording of Great Musical Works, August 28, 2009
This review is from: Stravinsky: Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps) / Le Roi des étoiles / Pétrouchka (Audio CD)
Years ago, I had a cassette tape of Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the BSO in "The Rite of Spring," "The Firebird Suite," and "The King of the Stars." That tape was my first exposure to all three works. After browsing around for other, better CDs for years, I had hoped to find something superior to what I had first experienced with this recording.
Deutsche Grammaphon hasn't bothered to bring all three recordings together on this album. Instead, they've eliminated "The Firebird" and replaced it with Dutoit conducting "Petrushka," but these are indeed the first recordings I had of "Rite" and "King." Everything on this album is good, but Tilson Thomas's interpretation of "The Rite of Spring" isn't what I remembered, so I'm not sure it matters anymore that "The Firebird" isn't on this CD, as it probably isn't what I remembered it to be, either.
Tilson Thomas's tempos in "Rite" are fantastic, and the orchestra keeps together. This is a work where the orchestra sounds more like it's talking, as if it were some living, breathing creature. In many places, Tilson Thomas accomplishes this (although I think it could be successfully argued that Stravinsky's genius orchestrations take the credit). But there are too many areas where the orchestra is barely in tune, and wind instruments that are cut off at the end of the note, rather than tapered. This may have to do with the engineering on the recording, or the hall in which it was played. The sound is too blunt in places where there should be a greater blend of everything that Stravinsky wrote.
As far as Dutoit's handling of "Petrushka," it is decent, but inferior in every way to Sir Charles Mackerras's recording with the LSO. Not only that, but small portions of the original score are actually left out, so I don't know why someone had the audacity to state that this is the 1911 version. It may be the original scoring, but it can hardly be considered original when portions of the original score are deliberately left out. Beyond that, tempos are measured and oftentimes too slow for me.
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