What we have here are two of
the very great warhorses of 20th century ballet.
A recent check of ArkivMusic.com indicates that there are currently
124 versions of Le Sacre in print and another 58 versions
of L’Oiseau de Feu, the latter usually one of two versions
sanctioned by the composer in his lifetime: the 1911 and the
1945. Since most listeners are familiar with both pieces, I’ll
be brief and describe the salient features of these performances
and avoid going into the history of the works.
I should say first of all that
this recording of The Rite of Spring is about as good
as I’ve heard lately. Maestro Simonov extracts a very robust
performance from the RPO that doesn’t miss a beat in this very
difficult music. The recording ambience is superb - for both
this and The Firebird - with a bias toward smoothing
out some of the harsh edges other conductors chose to leave
in; Boulez is one, the composer himself is another. What Simonov
stresses here are the resonant basses — helped by the engineers
— with a secondary focus on a certain atmospheric eeriness in
the transitional movements. There is a difference, of course,
with the size of the orchestra as well. A full orchestra can
rarely fit into a performance pit for a ballet or opera, and
The Rite of Spring really flourishes with the sound of
a full orchestra. I’ve seen one good performance of the actual
ballet, The Rite of Spring and two bad ones. The dancing
was fine in all three. The physical sound was the victim. If
you’re in the market for a starter-disc for a young person just
getting acquainted with Stravinsky, I’d recommend this disc.
Otherwise, you have to wade through the dozens and dozens on
the market. I very much enjoyed this recording, which is also
my first exposure to conductor Yuri Simonov and this label,
Regis Records.
As for the recording of Stravinsky’s
L’Oiseau de Feu – The Firebird, I find much to
admire here, especially its pairing with The Rite of Spring
instead of Petroushka. Both have hints of Russian Orientalism
and both have an elegance of style and mood that, for me, have
always made them my favorites of the composer’s three great
ballets. That aside, this version of The Firebird (the
1945 suite) has all the lushness and melancholy you expect if
you’re familiar with the work but Maestro Simonov chooses to
operate at a much slower pacing than other conductors. He brings
The Firebird in at 31 minutes and the common timing for
this version of The Firebird ranges from a brisk 22 minutes
to about 28 minutes. The full performance version (1919) comes
in roughly around 45 minutes. So this “suite” is closer to the
full performance versions available.
Simonov infuses the right amount
of dynamism where it matters, but in the more delicate passages
— such as the Pas de Deux [tr. 19] the work slows and
loses both momentum and tension. As I said, the score gets up
and running in the correct places, I just wished for a more
cadenced performance. But, boy, the physical sound is absolutely
gorgeous and the players themselves are spot-on. The college
professor in me - and I tend to be a softie - would give
this disc an A- for both sound and performance; but these are
two of my very favorite works. I nevertheless look forward to
hearing more from both this conductor and this label.
Paul
Cook
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Yuri Simonov
