There have always been composers who seemed to be ahead of their time;
Berlioz has always struck me as one such when I listen to his
Symphonie Fantastique,
a work written as long ago as 1830 and specifying no fewer than 90
musicians, more than for any work for orchestra up to that time. What
the audience reaction to it was one can hardly imagine when one
considers that this was three years before the birth of Brahms, when
Schumann was only twenty and Schubert had only died two years before.
Speculation can be put aside when it comes the audience’s reactions to the première of
Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring)
which took place on 29 May 1913, for it is probably the best documented
of all receptions for a new work in the history of music. There was
quite simply a near riot and it is said that the police had to be
called in. However, as the booklet notes explain “... it has to be said
that Nijinsky’s choreography, with its stamping, twitching body
movements that seem to truly mock the ideal of weightless grace
normally expected in dance, was at least as much to blame as
Stravinsky’s music”. It goes on to say that “... this was not a
performance for those of a nervous disposition, since the composer had
transformed the orchestra to a great extent into a gasping, snorting,
and above all hammering monster producing a sound that bore no
resemblance whatsoever to the elegance of traditional ballet music.”
One could say that Diaghilev had taken a risk in commissioning not one
but three ballet scores for his Ballets Russes from this virtually
unknown composer.
The Rite of Spring was the third after
The Firebird (1910) and
Petrushka (1911). Fortunately for both of them
The Firebird had been a great success.
It is significant that last year (2013) was the centenary of that first
performance because this disc which was recorded live last October must
surely be the nearest thing to that première in terms of sound, making
every other I’ve ever heard a pale, restrained and safe by comparison.
This gets closer to the subtitle of the work
Scenes from pagan Russia
than anything I’ve experienced before. The gentle opening notes belie
the powerhouse that lurks in the wings waiting to be unleashed. The
eerie nature of the opening that was used to such great effect as a
soundtrack to Disney’s
Fantasia is shattered first at around
3:56 by the first bursts of timpani. This is an orchestra that through
the vision of its conductor genuinely knows and understands the music.
As a result there is never a feeling that it is just going through the
motions of playing the notes — every note is perfectly represented as
it should be with a real feeling of ensemble playing at its best. The
pacing is perfect, devoid of any feeling of haste but measured to
extract the greatest impact from this uniquely original score. If, like
me, you have never heard a
Rite of Spring with the orchestra
sounding like a “... gasping, snorting, and above all hammering monster
...” then this is what you’ve been waiting for. Prepare yourself to be
bludgeoned at various points, particularly by the bass drum which gets
close to sounding like a steam hammer in a foundry. It is quite simply
a fabulous performance that is difficult to imagine being bettered and
it must surely become a benchmark recording that will remain so for a
long time into the future.
It is only recently that the
manuscript for the piano duet version has come to light though it is
known that it was first published a few days before the infamous Paris
première. Deriving from the short score and as a development of the
solo piano version (since lost) it contains some minor differences in
comparison to the orchestral version. In this interesting coupling we
have conductor Dennis Russell Davies and his wife, pianist Maki
Namekawa, giving the score their all in a powerfully impactful
performance. It evinces the same impressive interest as the original
solo piano version of
Pictures at an exhibition does when set alongside the brilliant Ravel orchestration which we have become more used to hearing.
This is an altogether important release that Stravinsky fans will find a must-have as soon as they hear it.
Steve Arloff
Masterwork Index:
Le Sacre du printemps
