Search - Stravinsky, Kocian Quartet :: Les Noces / L'Histoire Du Soldat Suite

A "L'histoire" for the Ages

Darin Kelly | Philadelphia, PA USA | 01/04/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having not heard the present compilation, I can only comment on the long-overdue rerelease of the BCP's 1975 performance of "L'histoire du Soldat," an instrumental suite of which is included on this disc. Many have tried, and failed, to equal the performance on this disc (which originally included the voices of Sir John Gielguyd, Tom Courtenay, and Ron Moody) and its reapperance on the stacks should not be missed. Performances here are unparalleled: The legendary cornet playing of Armando Ghitalla particularly captures the lively spirit and virtuosic demands of Stravinsky's skeletal yet remarkably colorful score, based on an old Russian folk tale. Like I said, I can't speak for the other performances on the disc (though the repertoire is something every listener should include in his collection), but you should buy this disc if only for the suite from this legendary recording of L'histoire, and you should be willing to pay four times as much."