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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:

Incredible!

Fire and energy and control. Refreshing. Energizing. In this case, it is true that the master knows best. Won't need that coffee in the morning - this will do just fine!

Stravinsky Delivers His Compositions His Way

It's very special experience to hear a composer conduct his own compositions. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. Igor Stravinsky proved to be one of the best "composer conductors" yet. The main reason I can think this works so well is because his music was so unique. It's certainly hard to describe his music to people and put it on paper, but his style was centered around a very "up front" instrumentation and almost jagged or cut up rhythmic movements that took his pieces to very unusual places sonically.

Simply put, Stravinsky isn't for everyone. I liked him the first time I heard this performance of "Petrushka." This is such an excellent piece of music. I'm sure when he composed it, it was very innovative for its time. "The Rite Of Spring" is also performed here and gets a great reading from the man himself.

The Columbia Symphony Orchestra do a fantastic job handling Stravinsky's music. If you love this man's music, then you should definitely acquire these.

The great thing here is the stark, frightening, powerful 'Le sacre'

Both of these recordings date from 1960 when the composer was 77, young enough so that there is no falling off in energy and propulsion. Le sacre was recorded first, in January, with a New York-based Columbia Sym. Orchestra. Petrushka was recorded the following month in Los Angeles with a different Columbia Sym. Orchestra -- this name always signifies a pickup group of freelancers and symhony musicians. Listening to this original Sony CD and the later remastering for their "Original Jacket" series, I hear little difference, except that Petrushka sounds brighter on top (too bright if you turn the volume up), so there's no great urgency to throw away the older version.

I am not fully convinced by Petrushka, done in the lavishly orchestrated 1911 edition, which calls for a very large orchestra. Here, the strings sound thin, especially cellos and basses. The playing is often blurry in massed tuttis. Stravinsky conducts in his usual angular, crisp way, without rubato and generally at a fast pace. As a result, he misses many opportunities for lingering rubato and dramatic contrast. This reading moves quickly from event to event, which also reflects, I think, the composer's limited baton technique. His reputation as a conductor was never high, so it's hard to know what's intentional and what isn't. Petrushka has been recorded by so many great conductors that one could prefer any number to this one (Bernstein, Abbado, and Giulini come immediately to mind for me). Still, there's lots of vigor and exhiliraiton on display here, and you may enjoy the chilly nervousness that Stravinsky cloaks the music in.

The composer's intrpretation of Le sacre comes closer to being indispensable, given the work's unqiue status among modern masterpieces. One craves to know how the composer himself felt, and to that end, this is a reading that above all is frightening in its starkness and absence of softening sentiment. Other versions are compelling; this one digs in with surgical claws. The recorded ambience is more open, the miking more distant than in Petrushka; there's no added brightness on top. (On my system Le sacre was two decibels lower in volume as well.) There is no indication if we are hearing the original or revised score, but I hear fewer differences than between the two Petrushkas.

Nor can I say why Stravinsky has suddenly become a better conductor. Is it due to the excellene of the New York musicians over the L.A. ones? However it my be, the crispness and precision here are impressive, and one gets the feeling that every spectral nuance intended by the composer came out in the performance. There have been dozens of spectacular Le sacres since 1960, but this one is recorded so well and makes such a haunting impression that it tanks as close to number one as the composer's versions ever get. In my experience, only The Firebird, The Rake's Progress, and his riveting recording of the three symphonies are this authoritative.

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.