STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring (Rattle)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: György Ligeti, Igor Stravinsky, Alban Berg, Anton Webern
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: LSO Live
Magazine Review Date: 02/2018
Media Format: Blu-ray
Media Runtime: 85
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: LSO3028
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(6) Pieces |
Anton Webern, Composer
Anton Webern, Composer London Symphony Orchestra Simon Rattle, Conductor |
(3) Wozzeck Fragments |
Alban Berg, Composer
Alban Berg, Composer Barbara Hannigan, Soprano London Symphony Orchestra Simon Rattle, Conductor |
Mysteries of the Macabre |
György Ligeti, Composer
Barbara Hannigan, Soprano György Ligeti, Composer London Symphony Orchestra Simon Rattle, Conductor |
(The) Rite of Spring, '(Le) sacre du printemps' |
Igor Stravinsky, Composer
Igor Stravinsky, Composer London Symphony Orchestra Simon Rattle, Conductor |
Author: Peter Quantrill
Smoothly grooved it may be at times but Rattle’s Rite is an imposing beast, lacking nothing for impact or sinuous grace; only in their concerts together last September to open his much-heralded tenure did it become clear in retrospect what was missing from this earlier account, where the tone is set by Rachel Gough’s almost indecently sensuous opening bassoon solo. The pair of Second Viennese works are more aptly swathed in diaphanous textures: shot-silk strings and some lovely Viennese portamento from the LSO clarinets wrap around Barbara Hannigan’s Marie in the excerpts from Wozzeck. The climax of the funeral march in Webern’s Op 6 is slightly compressed in the Barbican acoustic, even with post-production work on the original film, but the video direction is as restrained and exact as the movement in the score.
It was for this concert that Hannigan refreshed her double act with Rattle in Mysteries of the Macabre, replacing the leather-clad dominatrix with a naughty schoolgirl outfit: animé or St Trinian’s according to generation and predilection, though both may arouse an uncomfortable have-your-cake-and-eat-it chauvinism as she nails every coo and squawk of Ligeti’s two-faced coloratura parody. It’s probably best just to sit back and enjoy the show.
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