Rite of Spring / Les Biches

"Helped by state-of-the-art sound, Fischer's refinement speaks volumes in the Rite's quieter passages, where the string clusters and gurgling woodwind have a lucid beauty that contrasts finely with the weight of the rest...The real treat, though, is Les Biches.... There is a dark undertow in the performance, with echoes of Offenbach and 18th-century elegance... The tricky choral writing is expertly negotiated, and the playing poised in the extreme." The Guardian, 12th May 2011 ****

This live orchestral recording brings together two contrasting works both composed for the famed ballet company: Stravinsky's infamous The Rite of Spring - full of dark, rhythmic menace and dissonance - and Poulenc's Les biches (most aptly translated as 'the does') - which captures the heady atmosphere and risqué thrills of young women in the 1920s' party scene.