Forbes Classical CD Of The Week: Some Like It Plush; Riccardo Chailly In Early And Rediscovered Stravinsky

...with so much unsuspected Stravinsky-goodness, it made me go and pull out my beloved Stravinsky-conducts-Stravinsky box (see also: The 10 Best Classical Recordings Of 2015) from the shelf. Why had I missed these works before? Did Stravinsky ever conduct them himself? Apart from the above-mentioned world premiere, yes. The Faun and the Shepherdess with Mary Simmons – in Russian! – and the CBC Symphony Orchestra in 1964 in Toronto ; Fireworks and the Scherzo Fantastique a year or two earlier – with the CBC Symphony the latter and with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra the former. Fireworks even got another, earlier, recording, in New York in 1946 with the New York Philharmonic. Sound quite different, there; the Lucerne Festival Orchestra is a far more luxurious-sounding body of sound; the CBC and Columbia outfits sound – comparatively – like the soundtrack to like a Turner Classic Movies film music special generally and more flitting, modern in the case of Feu d’artifice, especially. The box remains the go-to source to white-balance any expectations – but for these works, Chailly is the obvious go-to recording…

-> Classical CD Of The Week: Some Like It Plush; Riccardo Chailly In Early And Rediscovered Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky, Chant funèbre, Le Faune et al Bergère, The Rite of Spring, Scherzo fantastique, Feu d’artifice, Riccardo Chailly, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Decca