2023 Approaching 60,000 reviews and more.. and still writing ...	Search MusicWeb Here

Searching Musicweb Monthly index Recordings of the Year Label index Masterwork index Series index Search engines Review Archive Classical Downloads Jazz Concerts Nostalgia Books Film music Resources Composer pages Tony Duggan's Mahler National Discographies Mark Morris's Guide to C20th Composers Ralph Moore's Surveys Online books Piano Trio Survey Cello Concerto Project Pot Pourri - Early MusicWeb Gerard Hoffnung Arthur Butterworth's columns Philip Scowcroft's British light music Interviews Programme notes MusicWeb Listening Studio Talking about Books Other material Articles Seen & Heard Message Board About Musicweb About Musicweb Contact Musicweb Contributors What they say about us Visitor stats Site Map

Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn

Buy through MusicWeb for £10.50 postage paid World-wide. Immediate delivery You may prefer to pay by Sterling cheque to avoid PayPal. Contactfor details Purchase button

Warsaw Philharmonic Archive – Craft and Stravinsky Igor STRAVINSKY (1882-1971) Variations (1964) Symphony of Psalms (1930) Firebird – Berceuse and Finale only (1910) Warsaw Philharmonic Choir Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra Robert Craft (Variations) Igor Stravinsky – remainder Recorded in concert at the Warsaw Philharmonic, 28 May 1965 CD ACCORD 116-2 [37.23]

Notable for the recently composed Variations, conducted by Robert Craft, this May 1965 concert also includes a moving Symphony of Psalms led by the composer and two extracts from the Firebird. Accord’s notes, as is consonant with this series of Archive recordings from the Warsaw Philharmonic, don’t delve into matters relating to the actual concert. I would certainly like to know what else was performed that night – because here we only get thirty-seven minutes. Was The Firebird complete? There is fortunately and appropriately great clarity of sound and the tapes have seemingly suffered little or no deterioration. The orchestra sounds well drilled and the Philharmonic Choir cope well, though not impeccably, with the demands in the Symphony – there is sometimes a muddiness in texture and balance that jars. The orchestral principals acquit themselves with distinction in the Variations, and the bass clarinet makes a notable contribution; wind chording is precise. The Symphony performance stresses its lyricism, not least in Laudate Dominum, but as ever Stravinsky’s rhythm is taut and vital and it emerges strengthened as a result. The woodwinds’ activity in the final movement is an indication of their commitment and the final choral Alleluias are increasingly convincing and cumulatively moving. The greater clarity and forward characterisation of Stravinsky’s CBC recording can hardly be denied but this is a welcome expansion of Stravinsky’s concert discography. Jonathan Woolf   Error processing SSI file

Return to Index

Error processing SSI file