Search - Stravinsky, Stokowski, Phl :: Petrouchka / Rite of Spring

Af very fortunate and winner first release of the Rite!

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 07/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The chivalrously charm and magnetic charisma of Leopold Stokowski,joined forces with a major talent and eloquent orchestral coloratura, that blended, allowed him to create an atmosphere of aristocrat presence on the podium. Stokowski represented in those years what two decades ago Ricardo Muti on the stage.



Stokowski established a very hard record to equal and obviously to surpass; having premiered countless works all around the world. His fertile imagination and kaleidoscopic fantasy nourished and expanded still more pages of the Russian repertoire (Pictures at exhibition) as well as the pages of the French repertoire. He directed as a painter; those musical canvas deserved him a memorable place among the new generations of directors.



So given the circumstances, you should not miss Stokowski illuminated the score in the case of Stravinsky, a composer eminently visual and sensually suggestive. It `s not a fortuitous event his notable contributions with Walt Disney in Fantasy in 1942. Thanks to him many people who never before was interested in the music as artistic expression was fortunately engaged and seduced. Besides he sew the necessity to enlarge the list of orchestras around USA; and being a sort of musical Ambassador many director immigrants found a secure place along these raising ensembles.



Stokowski enriched the sound of the Philadelphia Orchestra for Eugene Ormandy continued this effort, but also he made notable contributions for the orchestral repertoire, transcribing many Bach works.



This album is a striking evidence of what a talented director can do with an incipient orchestra, avid to learn and experience.



Pétrouhka is vivid, fresh and imaginative and his version of The Rite of Spring describes as a Picasso painting, multiple, remarkable and even significant issues nestled beneath the score. In this sense, this album is not only a transcendental historical reference, but also a set to collect because it retakes a vision that has been vanished due, nowadays the objectivity seems to have substituted the Dionysian fantasy, distorting seriously the place of Stravinsky in the music.



Absolutely recommended.

"