Search - Igor Stravinsky, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin :: Stravinsky: Symphonies (Symphony in C; Symphony in Three Movements; Symphonies of Wind Instruments)

Bracing

David Saemann | 06/02/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ashkenazy did excellent work with the Berlin Radio Symphony. One might not expect him to be a good Stravinsky conductor, given his piano repertoire, but he acquits himself admirably here. The Symphony in C still appears a little amorphous to me, but it seems to be competently presented here. The Symphony in Three Movements is more coherent to me, and this is a thrilling performance, powerful and beautifully structured. The Symphonies of Wind Instruments features lively playing from the Berlin winds, with especially piquant sound textures. The sound engineering throughout the disc is quite appealing, although the dynamic range is a bit smaller than one expects from the best digital recordings. Nevertheless, one almost always finds Ashkenazy to be an interesting conductor, and his admirers should be highly satisfied with this disc."

These are great performances!

Thomas Martin | USA | 11/30/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"..from early in Ashkenazy's conducting career. It appears that this CD, like so many others, came and went in a flash and flew under the critic's radar. If you enjoy Stravinsky, don't be afraid to invest a couple of dollars and buy this wonderful CD."

Stravinsky's wartime symphonies and a 20th century masterpie

R. Hutchinson | a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds | 06/19/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been searching for a set of Stravinsky symphonies for some time now, and I finally discovered this now out-of-print Decca disc from 1993. Outstanding! Two of my criteria were 1) I wanted the "Symphonies of Wind Instruments" (1920), which is considered by many, including Harrison Birtwistle, to be one of Stravinsky's most important works, right up with "The Rite of Spring," and 2) I did not want the "Symphony of Psalms" (1930), which is a choral work and a work of religious devotion, and therefore strongly affects the character of any set which includes it. This ruled out many of the leading contenders, including Boulez and Rattle, both with the Berlin Philharmonic, Solti with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Michael Gielen with the SWR, and Stravinsky himself with the classic early 1960s recording.



This set, recorded in 1991, has the right combination of symphonies and it is performed by the (then) RSO Berlin, the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, which was founded in 1946 as the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester -- the RIAS standing for "Radio in the American Sector." It became the RSO Berlin (of West Berlin) in 1956, and then in 1993 (after this recording) it was renamed the DSO Berlin (Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin). The Russian pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy was the principle conductor from 1989 to 1999. (Richardo Chailly was principle conductor from 1982-1989, and today the DSO is led by Ingo Metzmacher). I have been fascinated by the wealth of superb German orchestras recently, including those of the old DDR, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Staatskapelle Berlin, for instance, and the RSB (RSO Berlin -- previously East Berlin), now led by Marek Janowski, an excellent conductor who is in the process of recording the complete symphonies of Hans Werner Henze.



I do not own other recordings to compare these to, and it's been years now since I heard Stravinsky's own recordings on Sony (which did nothing for me at the time), but these are compelling and convincing performances. The "Symphony in C" was written between 1938 and 1940, in Paris, and then at Harvard and in Beverly Hills after Stravinsky fled France. I now find it quite interesting to hear Stravinsky's unique neoclassical voice poured into a standard four-movement symphonic form. It features the oboe, one of my favorite instruments. It was premiered by Stravinsky leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on November 7, 1940. The "Symphony in Three Movements" was called by Stravinsky his "War Symphony," and is uncharacteristically Shostakovich-like in its intensity for the otherwise always cool and suave Igor. It features piano, and was premiered by Stravinsky and the New York Philharmonic on January 24, 1946. Stravinsky said that "each episode in the Symphony is linked in my imagination with a concrete impression, very often cinematographic in origin, of the war." These symphonies belong alongside the wartime symphonies of Shostakovich, Honegger, Martinu and Hartmann. Jonathan Cross analyzes both symphonies at length and in detail in The Stravinsky Legacy, and argues that they are more modern and radical than they may superficially sound.



Finally, the "Symphonies of Wind Instruments," with a radical score pruned of all Romantic associations, including all strings and percussion. According to Philip Wilby's liner notes, the "...ideas are dramatic and archetypal in the way that one might expect from a composer whose great successes were associated with the theatre and, like the characters in a drama, are designed to interact to produce initial conflict and final resolution." Ashkenazy and the RSO Berlin's performance is nine minutes long, longer than many of closer to eight minutes, but not as long as Stravinsky's own recording with the SWR Baden-Baden und Freiburg which is ten minutes long. Birtwistle is most impressed by its lack of development -- no sonata form, just a series of episodes, which was tremendously influential on his compositions.



Stravinsky is not one of my favorites, but with some guidance, I am finally learning to appreciate Stravinsky beyond "The Rite of Spring." Birtwistle pointed me to the "Symphonies of Wind Instruments," and Hans Werner Henze pointed me to "Orpheus." This is an excellent Stravinsky set which is now available as an ArkivDisc, and so it should remain available despite its being out-of-print. Great photo of Stravinsky on the cover too!"