Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring [complete ballet] plus Stokowski arrangements of Bach)

Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring [complete ballet] plus Stokowski arrangements of Bach) cover $30.00 Special Order
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IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring [complete ballet] plus Stokowski arrangements of Bach)
Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin

[ Deutsche Grammophon / CD ]

Release Date: Friday 1 August 2014

This item is only available to us via Special Order. We should be able to get it to you in 3 - 6 weeks from when you order it.

Introducing the international debut Deutsche Grammophon orchestral album from leading French-Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the distinguished Philadelphia Orchestra.

A powerful musical tribute to the mighty Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977), 35 years after his death, from the young conductor who now continues his legacy. Stokowski spent some of his most important and fruitful years in charge of the orchestra in Philadelphia, in a position that brought him some of his greatest accomplishments. Musical showmanship, free-thinking and a populist approach to contemporary music are characteristics of Stokowski's distinguished conducting and recording career.

This new album focuses on Stravinsky's daring, revolutionary and game-changing ballet score, The Rite of Spring - given its American premiere performance by Stokowski and his Philadelphia Orchestra, and a work that reaches its centenary milestone in 2013.

Plus a selection of popular Stokowski transcriptions, including the famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor (J. S. Bach), as heard in its Stokowski version in Disney's classic Mickey Mouse movie, Fantasia.

"Another Rite of Spring? Yes, and an absorbing one. Yannick Nezet-Seguin, mercifully, pulls no special stunts upon the listener. His is not an attention-seeking performance, but one which harnesses the exceptional virtuosity of the Philadelphia players towards actually making music of a score too often subjected to the crash-bang-wallop treatment." (BBC Music)

"The opening [of Rite] is especially memorable with a darkly wailing, characterfully intoned bassoon...Thereafter the performance rides a course somewhere between guarded brilliance and elevated routine until we reach the closing 'Sacrificial Dance' which...is granted one of the most balletic performances I've ever heard, edgy, buoyant and viscerally exciting." (Gramophone)

"Nézet-Séguin's army of admirers will love the young Canadian conductor's affectionate homage to Leopold Stokowski, his greatest predecessor as maestro of the Philadelphia Orchestra...The playing is crystal clear in a dry acoustic, though stolid at times." (The Times)

Tracks:

Bach, J S:. Stokowski
Toccata & Fugue in D minor, BWV565
Fugue in G minor, BWV578 'Little'
Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor, BWV582

Stravinsky:
The Rite of Spring