STRAVINSKY The
Firebird / Orchestral Arrangements
BIS SACD-1874 / ****1/2
The music of Igor Stravinsky’s
first ballet, The Firebird, is usually
enjoyed at concerts in the form of its short 1919 Suite, which lasts some 20 minutes. The complete ballet, a
rarity because of the massive orchestral forces employed, plays for over twice
as long. It is an extremely colourful score, much in the style of Stravinsky’s
teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, with its Russian fairy-tale story of a hero,
princesses and ogres vividly characterised. In this sumptuous recording, the
dances truly come to life aided by excellent woodwind and brass, culminating in
the ferocious Infernal Dance and
glorious final apotheosis.
The value of this disc lies in
its unusual fillers. Instead of another ballet, Stravinsky’s rarely heard
orchestrations of music by Tchaikovsky (Bluebird
Pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty),
Sibelius (Canzonetta) and Chopin (a
nocturne and a waltz) are offered. True to form, Stravinsky’s ingenious play
with sound textures assures quirks aplenty. The biggest surprise is reserved
for the minute-long Birthday Greeting,
an outlandish distortion of the children’s Happy
Birthday party song which plays down the melody but magnifies the
accompaniment. Have fun in this musical “hall of mirrors”.
BEETHOVEN
FOR ALL
DANIEL
BARENBOIM, Piano & Conductor
Decca 478
3513 (2 CDs) / **1/2
Anyone who has gone through the triumphs and
vicissitudes of life will identify with the life-affirming music of Ludwig van
Beethoven (1770-1827). He was Everyman personified, dogged by unrequited love
and deafness, yet invigorated by his ideals of liberty, egalitarianism and the
brotherhood of man. This double-disc is a sampler of his complete symphonies,
piano concertos and piano sonatas (to be issued on 18 discs in three box-sets)
as interpreted by Daniel Barenboim, surely one of great Beethovenians of our
age.
Six of the nine symphonies, four of the five
piano concertos and three sonatas (out of 32) are represented. Despite the fine
performances, the sequence of disembodied movements selected does the music
scant justice. There is neither chronological order nor programming
intelligence in place. For example, the lovely Adagio slow movement of the Emperor
Concerto does not fade off when it should but continues with the linking
passage as if launching into the Rondo
finale. Then the listener is assailed with the Rondo of the First Piano
Concerto instead! Surely Barenboim could not have been party to this
insult. Clearly this is Beethoven For
Dummies. It is far better to get the full sets instead (and probably
Decca’s intention as well).
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