Sir Simon Rattle, London Symphony Orchestra – Stravinsky Ballets (2022) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Stravinsky sent shockwaves through classical music in the 20th century. His first three ballets -The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring, all composed between 1909 and 1913 – brought a new and frenzied sense of rhythm, so distressing to audiences that it caused uproar; The Rite of Spring even caused a riot. And it’s not hard to see why. Is there any moment in music more demonic than the opening to The Firebird, a terrifying rumble of strings that would make Jaws tremble? There are few pieces more unsettling than The Rite of Spring with it’s carnal, tribal rhythms; or Petrushka with it’s impish Punch and Judy puppets. A notable voice of authority on the works of Stravinsky, Sir Simon Rattle masterfully brings these three creations to life in this dramatic performance, recorded live in the Barbican Hall as part of his inaugural season as LSO’s Music Director.

Denied early in his career by Philharmonia Orchestra’s management, Sir Simon Rattle realized his dream of programming a concert of these three early Stravinsky ballets in a 2017 festival that launched his time as the music director of the venerable London Symphony Orchestra. It is indeed an interesting concept as the audience is given a chance to hear the harmonic and stylistic changes of Stravinsky’s writing in these ballets, which were, incredibly, written within five years. All three of these works were premiered at Paris’ Ballets Russes. The Firebird, which premiered in 1910, launched a productive relationship between Stravinsky and Sergei Diaghilev, the company’s founder. The music of The Firebird stole the show, prompting the composer to craft his own suites from the score, and it remains among his most popular and enduring works. After the success of The Firebird, Stravinsky began to compose The Rite of Spring, but he set it aside to work on a konzertstück for piano and orchestra with the images of a puppet come to life in mind. This imagery put the story of Petrushka in the eye of Diaghilev. Petrushka is set at an 1830s Shrovetide Fair and follows the exploits of a puppeteer who brings three puppets (Petrushka, the Moor, and the Ballerina) to life with his flute. Stravinsky uses folk songs cleverly throughout and departs from the more Rimsky-Korsakov-influenced writing of The Firebird, including the use of bitonality, which he took even further in The Rite of Spring. The Rite depicts a paganistic sacrifice to usher in spring, and its use of pulsating rhythms and brash harmonies famously created an uproar at its debut (the level of which is still debated). Rattle and the London Symphony perform Stravinsky’s later revised versions of Petrushka and The Rite of Spring, and all three powerful and highly emotional works are well executed.

Tracklist:
01. Sir Simon Rattle – I. Introduction (02:38)
02. Sir Simon Rattle – II. Premier tableau. Le jardin enchanté de Kastchei (01:34)
03. Sir Simon Rattle – III. Apparition de l’oiseau de feu poursuivi par Ivan Tsarévitch (02:08)
04. Sir Simon Rattle – IV. Danse de l’oiseau de feu (01:29)
05. Sir Simon Rattle – V. Capture de l’oiseau de feu par Ivan Tsarévitch – Supplications de l’oiseau de feu – Apparition des treize princesses enchantées (09:35)
06. Sir Simon Rattle – VI. Jeu des princesses avec les pommes d’or (02:33)
07. Sir Simon Rattle – VII. Brusque apparition d’Ivan Tsarévitch – Corovod (Ronde) des princesses – Lever du jour (07:15)
08. Sir Simon Rattle – VIII. Ivan Tsarévitch pénètre dans le palais de Kastchei – Carillon féérique – Arrivée de Kastchei – Dialogue – Intercession des princesses – Apparition de l’oiseau de feu – Danse de la suite de Kastchei enchantée par l’oiseau de feu (06:21)
09. Sir Simon Rattle – IX. Danse infernale de tous les sujets de Kastchei (04:39)
10. Sir Simon Rattle – X. Berceuse (L’oiseau de feu) – Réveil de Kastchei – Mort de Kastchei – Profondes ténèbres (05:51)
11. Sir Simon Rattle – XI. Second tableau. Disparition du palais et des sortilèges de Kastchei, animation des chevaliers pétrifiés. Allégresse générale (03:23)
12. Sir Simon Rattle – I. The Shrovetide Fair (Introduction) (01:19)
13. Sir Simon Rattle – II. The Crowds (04:00)
14. Sir Simon Rattle – III. The Conjuring Trick (01:54)
15. Sir Simon Rattle – IV. Russian Dance (02:46)
16. Sir Simon Rattle – I. Petrushka’s Cell (04:36)
17. Sir Simon Rattle – I. The Moor’s Cell (02:41)
18. Sir Simon Rattle – II. Dance of the Ballerina (00:48)
19. Sir Simon Rattle – III. Waltz (The Ballerina and the Moor) (03:09)
20. Sir Simon Rattle – I. The Shrovetide Fair (towards evening) (01:11)
21. Sir Simon Rattle – II. Dance of the Wet-Nurses (02:38)
22. Sir Simon Rattle – III. A Peasant Enters with a Bear (01:15)
23. Sir Simon Rattle – IV. The Gypsy Girls Dance (01:04)
24. Sir Simon Rattle – V. Dance of the Coachmen and Grooms (02:09)
25. Sir Simon Rattle – VI. The Mummers (Masqueraders) (02:21)
26. Sir Simon Rattle – VII. Death of Petrushka (03:17)
27. Sir Simon Rattle – Adoration of the Earth. Introduction (03:24)
28. Sir Simon Rattle – The Augurs of Spring – Dances of the Young Girls (03:08)
29. Sir Simon Rattle – Ritual of Abduction (01:17)
30. Sir Simon Rattle – Spring Rounds (03:31)
31. Sir Simon Rattle – Ritual of the Rival Tribes (01:52)
32. Sir Simon Rattle – Procession of the Sage – The Sage (01:04)
33. Sir Simon Rattle – Dance of the Earth (01:12)
34. Sir Simon Rattle – The Sacrifice. Introduction (04:34)
35. Sir Simon Rattle – Mystic Circles of the Young Girls (02:58)
36. Sir Simon Rattle – Glorification of the Chosen One (01:37)
37. Sir Simon Rattle – Evocation of the Ancestors (00:42)
38. Sir Simon Rattle – Ritual Action of the Ancestors (03:37)
39. Sir Simon Rattle – Sacrificial Dance (The Chosen One) (04:46)