Stravinsky’s ballet
scores show the composer at his remarkable
best with an astonishing range of
music: there is the lush Romanticism
of The Firebird, the surprising
neo-Classicism of Apollo and
the ever-surprising power of The
Rite. At a bargain price this
set collects his four best known ballet
scores together in performances that
could scarcely be bettered.
The Rite poses
a problem to us in the 21st
Century, one nearly as acute as that
faced by its audience at the famous
premiere. For this work, which is
now securely part of the classical
canon, how do we keep it fresh and
shocking in the way that Stravinsky
intended it to be? Rattle’s answer
is by scrupulous attention to detail.
Gergiev surrounds this score in a
red mist: Rattle delineates every
single chord and note in a way that
is as alarming as it is revelatory.
The temptation for too many conductors
is to charge through the score relentlessly.
Not Rattle: the clarity with which
he treats the score leads constantly
to reappraisals of this extraordinary
work. Listen to The Glorification
of the Chosen One and you will
hear striking detail in the midst
of the pandemonium. Rattle actually
slows down the tempo for the final
Sacrificial Dance but, rather
than turning it into a plod, it increases
the savagery of the scene by a shockingly
believable sense of the victim dancing
herself to death. If the detail is
what interests you about the Rite
then this is the recording to go for.
Detail is also a
striking feature of Petrushka,
though here there is more a driving
sense of narrative. The Shrovetide
Fair has a raw, peculiarly Russian
feel about it, while the scenes in
the puppets’ rooms are lively and
exciting. The characters are well
drawn too: listening to the Dance
of the Ballerina, we wonder how
Petrushka could ever fall for such
a heard-hearted beast! The various
dances in the fourth part are virtuosic
and well contrasted, and the appearance
of Petrushka’s ghost at the end casts
a perceptible chill over the final
bars.
Rattle’s Firebird
is unashamedly Romantic. He revels
in the colour of the opening, depicting
Kashchey’s garden in its seductive
attraction but simultaneously its
danger: the noise (not music) made
by the strings as Ivan enters the
garden is genuinely chilling. The
Firebird itself is a light, filigree
creature in the CBSO’s hands with
lively instrumental colour for both
its capture and its lovely supplication
scene. The darker elements are here
too, with Kashchey, his palace and
his creatures painted with a sinister
gloom. The narrative thrust remains,
though, with everything building towards
the apotheosis of the finale. This
moment, one of the most purely beautiful
that Stravinsky ever wrote, builds
like a tidal wave to a joyous climax.
Moving from this
to the neo-classical world of Apollo
is something of a shock! Stravinsky’s
conscious adoption of Rococo style
and, to a lesser extent, instrumentation
produces a colour and context that
we don’t expect from him. It works
well on its own terms, though. The
warm sound produced by the CBSO strings
is fitting to describe the Olympian
scene. Apollo’s birth unfolds slowly,
and his relationship with the three
Muses is delicately drawn in the contrasting
variations which are disarmingly tender.
This is the best
way I can think of to survey Stravinsky’s
remarkable achievements in the world
of ballet, with top-class playing
and impeccable recorded sound. With
Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky remains the
greatest ballet composer of all and
certainly the greatest of the 20th
Century. Lovers of rhythm, instrumentation
and sheer orchestral passion will
not be disappointed.
Simon Thompson
Peter Donohoe (piano) (Petrushka)
