As digital Petrushkas go, this is definitely one of the best. Chailly has his players characterize even the smallest detail (instrumental doublings are remarkably clear) and the savage attack of brass and big drums in ''The Shrove-Tide Fair'' has astonishing impact. Note, too, the tongue-in-cheek lead-in to the ''Russian Dance'' and the carefree 'squeeze-box' character of the dance itself (with dynamic crossfire between wind and brass and some excellent piano playing). ''Petrushka'' (third tableau) is played con amore, with much humanity and not entirely without malice: perhaps the anger and frustration aren't as blatant as, say, Bernstein's; but the pain and humiliation certainly are. Then there is the chirpy flute atop the ''Wet-Nurses' Dance'' (0'43'' into track 7) and the finely tensed ''Dance of Petrushka''. It's a performance that breathes, that sings and neither rushes its fences nor loses sight of the score's very specific rhythmic profile. As for the recording, given top-ranking engineers and the helpful acoustic of the Concertgebouw's Grotezaal – who could rightly expect anything less than exceptional?
The coupling, too, is equally colourful: a pert, sweet-centred Pulcinella, with an expressive concertino in the ''Ouverture'', winsome phrasing elsewhere and extremely brilliant accounts of the two Allegro assais (tracks 23 and 35). One is prompted to recall those superb Stravinsky discs that Chailly made with the London Sinfonietta, originally issued by Ricordi (some of which were reissued by Decca). Here there is a similar incisiveness, attack and buoyancy to the rhythms: it's the sort of quick-witted playing that enlivened Chailly's Gramophone Award-winning CDs of Hindemith's Kammermusik (11/92). The singing is vividly characterized and, again, the recording is spectacular, with a trombone ''Vivo'' (track 33) that should serve the same 'demonstration' function as Ansermet's and Marriner's did in the days of LP. Now, as then, Decca take a definite sonic lead in this delightful music. Strongly recommended. R1 '9506033'