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Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky: Petrushka / Le Sacre du Printemps

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1. Tableau 1: The Shrove-tide Fair. Beginning
2. Tableau 1: The Shrove-tide Fair. The Crowds
3. Tableau 1: The Shrove-tide Fair. The Charlatan's Booth
4. Tableau 1: The Shrove-tide Fair. Russian Dance
5. Tableau 2: Petrushka's Room
6. Tableau 3: The Moor's Room. Beginning
7. Tableau 3: The Moor's Room. Dance of the Ballerina
8. Tableau 3: The Moor's Room. Waltz (Ballerina and Moor)
9. Tableau 4: The Shrove-tide Fair (near evening). Beginning
10. Tableau 4: The Shrove-tide Fair (near evening). Dance of the Nursemaids
11. Tableau 4: The Shrove-tide Fair (near evening). Dance of the Peasant and Bear
12. Tableau 4: The Shrove-tide Fair (near evening). Dance of the Gypsy Girls
13. Tableau 4: The Shrove-tide Fair (near evening). Dance of the Coachmen and Grooms
14. Tableau 4: The Shrove-tide Fair (near evening). The Masqueraders
15. Tableau 4: The Shrove-tide Fair (near evening). Conclusion (Petrushka's Death)
16. Part 1. The Adoration of the Earth. Introduction
17. Part 1. The Adoration of the Earth. Dances of the Young Girls
18. Part 1. The Adoration of the Earth. Mock Abduction
19. Part 1. The Adoration of the Earth. Spring Round Dance
20. Part 1. The Adoration of the Earth. Games of the Rival Tribes
21. Part 1. The Adoration of the Earth. Procession of the Wise Elder
22. Part 1. The Adoration of the Earth. Adoration of the Earth (The Wise Elder)
23. Part 1. The Adoration of the Earth. Dance of the Earth
24. Part 2. The Sacrifice. Introduction
25. Part 2. The Sacrifice. Mystical Circles of the Young Girls
26. Part 2. The Sacrifice. Glorification of the Chosen Victim
27. Part 2. The Sacrifice. Summoning of the Ancients
28. Part 2. The Sacrifice. Ritual of the Ancients
29. Part 2. The Sacrifice. Sacrificial Dance (The Chosen Victim)

Average customer rating:

A Must-have recording

I never understood why conductors have to make such a complicated hash of these pieces.
If you like these pieces, then you are in for a treat. Simple, clean approach with no fuss, just brilliant music that makes so much sense when played right.

Primal. Astonishing. Humbling

An erstwhile friend presented this to me because one of my two nicknames in college used to be Petrushka (just a fond, familiar, a la Russian way of saying my name). The CD sat unopened in my car for a few days until a bored passenger offered to tear off the cellophane and pop it into the CD player (replacing, I am embarrassed to confess, a CD of the Pussycat Dolls).

Well, as the notes filled my car, I found myself so totally overwhelmed that I had to sit in the parking lot for a long time after I had dropped off my friend. This is the sort of music that melts away existence; that consumes you until you are just a shiver; that picks you up and transports you to that unknown place you had dreamt about oh-so long ago; that makes your thoughts tremble with sheer astonishment at the brutal, primal genius of it all...

Ok, I gave it a valiant try. It is impossible to describe such powerful music without mouthing cliches... As a mere mortal, all I can say is: listen, and weep.

A great album except...

Some of the songs end so abruptly, that it is almost a shock to the system. Twice I checked to see if my CD player was still working. I do not know if the songs themselves where written that way or the person who put this album together did this. I keep imagining a man listening to the music with big scissors just chopping it wherever and whenever he feels like it and saying ok this looks like a good place to end a song. That is unnerving.

The music itself is simply beautiful. This is my first Stravinsky purchase and certainly not my last.

the best.

i think when the opportunity comes to hear music in exactly the way the author meant it to be heard is a rare gift. with stravinsky himself conducting, his work here is as perfect as it can ever be performed. the Rite of Spring is one of the most important works, i dare say, EVER. Listen with focus and stravinsky's genius is obvious.

Najinsky who?!

Nobody does Mr. S like Mr. S. These albums that came out on Columbia are still the ultimate. Why would anyone else bother to try to match the master? This guy was a freaking genius, for goodness sake. You other guys get a life.