It seemed that Chailly, Abbado and Stravinsky himself had between them more or less sewn up the ‘Pulcinella on record’ situation – but now along comes Hugh Wolff to extend that feted trio to a quartet. This really is an excellent performance and a witty, incisive alternative to its best digital rival (Chailly). Just try the Vivo (track 20) with its frolicking trombone and wilting double-bass solo and note how stylishly they phrase their closing duet (from 1'25''). Wolff’s singers are generally above par, Jennifer Larmore especially, although turning to Stefan Sanderling’s Bournemouth Sinfonietta version finds the excellent Ian Bostridge making light work of this tongue-twisting solo “Una te fa la nzemprece ed e malezeiosa...” (“One pretends innocence, and is malicious...”). In fact, I rather prefer his contribution to John Aler’s for Wolff and Naxos achieve a more effective balance of voices at the beginning of the Tempo di minuetto (though the rest of Sanderling’s singers aren’t nearly so good). However, all other comparisons work very much in Wolff’s favour – the Allegro assai, for example (track 8 on both discs) where the Bournemouth flutes have difficulty keeping the pace, and in the Gavotta con duo variazioni which is so much more stylish in Minnesota (the location for Wolff’s recording). Sanderling offers an enjoyable, nicely judged performance, one that, were it not for the latest digital competition, would warrant a stronger recommendation.
Readers in search of budget-price material are of course reminded of Naxos’s super-budget status: certainly a good Pulcinella at a low cost is better than no Pulcinella at all. Still, my job is to make impartial comparisons and initial impressions are confirmed by the conductors’ respective couplings, with Sanderling offering a lively if occasionally garbled Danses concertantes (woodwinds are less than incisive in the “Pas d’action”), and Wolff the best Rag-Time for 11 instruments I have ever heard – gently swinging and without a hint of self-consciousness – plus keenly focused accounts of the two Suites for small orchestra and an exceedingly enjoyable Renard. Here the singing is again excellent and there’s a novelty in that Wolff has tweaked the published translation (by Rollo Myers and Stravinsky as revised by Gerald Moshell and Robert Craft) and in so doing has effected a more natural flow to the comedy. Again, there is a plethora of detail – subtle underlinings, useful clarifications and felicitous turns of phrase, all to the benefit of the music – and the recording is excellent.
As to the main work, further comparisons still incline me towards Chailly but Wolff is an ideal second choice and his couplings are in many ways more musically appropriate than Decca’s (a superb Petrushka). An excellent CD.'