Antal Dorati, Stravinsky, The Firebird, The Rite of Spring & Petrushka.
180 Gram 33rpm, Sealed Vinyl (3) Record Box Set plus Book. Label= Speakers Corner/Mercury
Factory Sealed, Stored in a Climate and Light Controlled Environment. Condition is New Factory Mint.
Three famous and famously-sounding ballets by Stravinsky, all
conducted by Antal Dorati - packaged together by Speakers Corner.
Includes slip case and deluxe 12 page booklet.
Included Works:
Mercury SR90216
Igor Stravinsky: Petrouchka/Antal Dorati/The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra :
Petrushka was
born of Stravinsky’s vision of a long-haired musician hammering
indiscriminately at the piano keys and engaging in a furious contest
with the orchestra which answers with vehement protests and acoustic
fisticuffs. As was the case with The Rite of Spring and The Firebird,
Sergei Diaghilev and his Russian ballet had their share in ensuring
that the “burlesque” in four scenes would be suitable for the stage.
The
clown-doll Petrushka revels in his spiteful teasing and pranks at the
Shrovetide fair. The orchestra contributes swirling dance figures,
blaring brass and scurrying strings to his high-spirited clownery – but
then the Moor enters and dances with the Ballerina, arousing jealousy
in Petrushka. Although the clown-doll does not survive this
bitter-sweet story, he triumphs at the end, his ghost mocking the crowd
at the fair.
This highly inventive music combines folksong,
popular music and the waltz, all bound together by exhilating rhythms
which are often taken to thunderous extremes. With its outstanding
sound, this recording is a must-have in any Stravinsky collection.
Mercury SR90226
Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird/Antal Dorati/The London Symphony Orchestra:
The Firebird
can almost be described as a work of fate, since it is not only the
first of several ballets that Stravinsky wrote for Sergei Diaghilev and
his Ballets Russes but also marks his international breakthrough as a
composer. In comparison with his other earlier stage works, the
ecstatic, sharply contoured Rite of Spring for example, The Firebird,
with its melodic character, is a far gentler work altogether. There
are unmistakable reminiscences of the musical language of
Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky as well as snatches of late-Romantic
harmonies; all this lends the music the charm of Russian tradition.
In
his performance, Dorati chooses the golden mean in that he has his
ensemble produce a highly colourful but by no means glaring sound. Thus
the listener is given the opportunity to follow the development of the
finely chiselled motifs which are so characteristic of this early
composition. Happily, the chamber-music-like transparency is preserved
even in the loud, more exposed passages – the sound leaves the
loudspeakers with a sprightly, athletic tread, as it were.
Mercury SR90253
Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring/Antal Dorati/The MinneapolisSymphony Orchestra:
While he was finishing the score of The Firebird, the idea came to Stravinsky for a pagan, ritual scenario. The background history of Le Sacre du printemps
is well known: while the modernists praised the work, the conservative
public thought they were being hoaxed. The reason for their irritation
and the scandalous fiasco of the premiere is still audible to this day.
Stravinsky carries the aggressive, hammering rhythms to the extreme,
casting them in atonal harmonies which feed on the alternation between a
red-hot and a mild mixture, as Stravinsky put it.
Dorati urges
on his ensemble with robust tempi, and the orchestra is quick to
respond to all the refinements of the tightly knit movement. It appears
to cope effortlessly with the extremes of contrast and manages to
amalgamate the rhythmic excesses with the tenderness of the numerous
tiny motifs and figures which seem to sprout like flowers out of hard
rock. The excellent recording technique captures both the extreme
loudness and the finely pulsating tones, resulting in a sound in which
no detail goes unheard. The listener can be sure that this Stravinsky
deserves the rating "excellent" – both for the interpretation and for
the sound.