Stravinsky: Symphonies and Concertos

Igor Stravinsky (Composer), Colin Davis (Conductor), Edo de Waart (Conductor), Ernest Bour (Conductor), Igor Markevitch (Conductor), Netherlands Wind Ensemble (Performer), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Orchestra), Russian Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Netherlands Wind Ensemble
• Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Russian Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Colin Davis, Edo de Waart, Ernest Bour, Igor Markevitch
• Composer: Igor Stravinsky
• Audio CD (February 14, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B0000041AF
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,256 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful - Especially The Violin Concerto!, May 27, 2004

By 

Jeffrey Lipscomb (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stravinsky: Symphonies and Concertos (Audio CD)

This set is worth its modest price just to have Grumiaux in the Violin Concerto, with Ernest Bour and the Concertgebouw providing a virtual x-ray of this marvelous score. Grumiaux provides an object lesson for other violinists in how to combine extraordinarily crisp rhythm with soaring lyricism. Bour demonstrates once again how he was one of the 20th Century's most eloquent advocates of modern music. This is far and away the finest current reading - it very nearly eclipses my benchmark for this piece: Samuel Dushkin with the composer conducting in a 1935 Paris recording on DG.

A wonderful bonus is Markevitch performing the Symphony of Psalms. What a stunning reading! And such a glorious chorus! I actually prefer this reading to Stravinsky's own stereo account, and it comes close to the sheer ecstacy of the composer's antique 1931 recording.

Colin Davis is not one of my favorites, but I have to say he delivers crisp, no-nonsense accounts in both the Sym. in C and the Sym. in 3 Movements. Here, though, I still prefer the composer's various accounts in each work. Finally, the virtuoso Netherlands Wind Ensemble provides the best played versions of the Symphonies for Wind Instruments and the Ebony concerto I have had the pleasure of hearing. Once again, I marginally prefer the composer's mono accounts here: his version of the former was slower and more mysterious, and in the latter he had Woody Herman & Co. in full swing. But neither was as expertly played as these Dutch readings - and the sound here is simply terrific.

This CD set is a wonderful introduction to the kaleidoscopic variety of Stravinsky's music. Be sure to hear that Violin Concerto - it's one of the great performances of ANY concerto.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A generally good Stravinsky starter with only one true lemon. But gosh, does it make all the difference..., April 5, 2011

By 

dysfunctional-harmony (Fremont, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stravinsky: Symphonies & Concertos (MP3 Download)

Stravinsky's far underestimated Symphonies are definitely worth hearing. Each differing in form and content, every one is evidence for Stravinsky's genius in all styles of music. The Symphony of Psalms' third movement especially is one of the great masterpieces of modern vocal music, right up there with his Les Noces, Adams' Harmonium, Andriessen's De Staat, and Rachmaninov's The Bells. I only wish it was given a more flattering performance on this particular disc...

In general all the performances on this disc are exquisite, with the only exception being the terrible recording of "Symphony of Psalms" by Ivan Markevitch. Colin Davis is generally considered a world-class conductor (his Berlioz recordings are phenomenal), and this album is strong testimony to that power. Edo de Waart is also a wonderful conductor for this sort of music, getting an interesting tone out of the far-underestimated sound of a wind ensemble. This particular one is the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, whose recording of Andriessen's De Staat is just as underestimated as the rest of the Wind Ensemble Literature, and far cleaner than de Leeuw's recording with the Asko/Schoenberg Ensembles. The Violin Concerto is well handled in general, and the Ebony Concerto is absolutely flawless.

On the other hand, the Symphony of Psalms is simply dreadful. My notes on each movement:

1. Listen carefully to the horn's intonation. Also, the vocalists sound like they're singing a funeral dirge. The high wind playing is particularly messy, sometimes the horns sound like they're playing in the wrong key, exhausted. In general, they tend to rush the tempo beyond what they can reasonably accomplish.

2. SLOW DOWN! This recording is literally 25% shorter than than most conductors, like Gielen, Tilson Thomas, and Karajan, take it, around 6:30. Even Robert Craft, Stravinsky's ("OMG! HE ACTUALLY LISTENED TO WEBERN'S SYMPHONY! TWICE!" *Gasp-Faint*) assistant, takes it at a slow 7:12! That's nearly two-and-a-half minutes shorter! It looses all emotional impact at Markevitch's speed. Also, in a passage that is supposed to be heart-rending, the horn's vibrato just makes one crack up with laughter. Is this some sort of sick joke? I mean, seriously, get a life.

3. While this is probably the best done movement of the piece, it's definitely not outstandingly good.

My advice: Unless you are a particular fan of Edo de Waart, Colin Davis, or Arthur Grumiaux, stick to one of the following on each:

Symphonies (excluding Symphony of Psalms): Michael Tilson Thomas, with the London Symphony Orchestra. Cheap, and the reference recording in many people's minds, including the people over at ClassicsToday.com.

Symphony of Psalms: Simon Rattle delivers a spectacular reading with the Berlin Philharmonic. (I'm only discounting Tilson Thomas because of slight intonation problems in the third movement, which pretty much ruin the emotional effect.)

Violin Concerto: Hilary Hahn and Neville Marriner. 'Nuff said. (Mullova with Salonen and Mutter with Daniels are also amazing, and almost as well coupled, too.)

Ebony Concerto: This is definitely the best recording I have, but the one on the cd "New World Jazz" is also wonderful. It's with MTT and the New World Symphony, and is coupled with some other astounding pieces, including Milhaud's La Creation du Monde, Antheil's Jazz Symphony, Adams' Lollapalooza, and, of course, the under-recorded original jazz band version of Rhapsody in Blue. MTT is pretty hard to beat for all of these pieces.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic compilation, April 16, 2006

By 

Pork Chop (Lisbon, Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stravinsky: Symphonies and Concertos (Audio CD)

You won't be disappointed in this compilation ....all great

choices in the selection of numbers, although the highlight

does seem to be "Violin Concerto".

In terms of sound, it's also very clear, very well recorded,

and there's a balanced selection of moods on these 2 CD.