STRAVINSKY. Rite of Spring. Budapest Festival/Fischer [Hybrid SACD]

Well, it finally arrived, and I couldn't be more delighted with Fischer's Rite and Firebird Suite. The sound and performance are revelations letting me hear "interior" instruments as I have never heard them before. Without a doubt this is the finest orchestral recording I have ever heard in my home. The orchestra is immediate without being too close. The percussion is incredibly present without being out of balance with the orchestra. After listening to this, I immediately put on my other recent SACD recording of The Rite, Litton's on BIS. In no way do I mean to demean the BIS recording, but the CC was far more involving and present. By comparison, the Litton seemed quite distant--except for the bass drum THWACKS! The multi-channel mix on the Fischer is heavenly, but the two channel mix will not disappoint in any way.

But what of the performance and interpretation? I have countless Rites. My favorites are Bernstein's NYPO, from '58, the Composer's also on Sony, and Monteux's from 1951. I have and enjoy many others. Boulez is interesting, Gergiev is certainly unique, and even von Karajan's is somewhat refreshing perhaps once a year. But once again, Fischer has shown me something new, and opened this work up for me. Will you like it? That I can't answer, but I will tell you I find it first rate in every way. It is exciting, primal, wrenching, and beautiful.

And what or the Firebird Suite? I've always found there are two ways to approach The Firebird, suite or complete: Looking back to Rimsky, or looking ahead to The Rite. Conductors such as Scherchen bring pre-echos of Sacre. I don't hear this with Fischer--nor do I miss it. This is an achingly beautiful Firebired. While the Infernal Dance is without doubt exciting, massively involving, it does not do this by previewing The Rite.

The two short pieces are delightful.

Yes, you DO need yet another Rite! Highly recommended

Purely from the standpoint of sound quality, this new release from Channel Classics surpasses every single recording I've ever heard of these three, oh-so seminal Stravinsky works: "Rite Of Spring" (original 1919 version), "Firebird" Suite and "Scherzo a la Russe". Channel Classics and Fischer also threw in the two minute long "Tango No. 72".

From the purely interpretive standpoint, one could argue endlessly about just what the right tempi for the various sections (and subsections) should be within "The Rite". I find Fischer's 'interpretation' to be as convincing as any other I've heard (yes, some are better than others - that goes without saying). Channel Classics superb sound quality and Fischer's excellent balances not only facilitate one in hearing every bloody bleep-and-bloop within the score, it helps to define Stravinsky's harmonies to a level that I've never before noticed. You could practically take harmonic dictation just from listening to it (writing out the chord changes). That might seem like a trivial point, but name another piece that's more of an 'orchestral spectacular' than "Le Sacre du Printemps".

The "Firebird" Suite not only benefits from the same excellent sonics, conductor Ivan Fischer manages to bring out the lavish and sumptuous qualities of the work - more like exotic Rimsky-Korsakov than The Rite. "Scherzo a la Russe" is hardly profound Stravinsky, but it's also pleasant, fun and innocuous.

Please note: I listened to this on just the plain-old CD layer, as I do not own an SACD player (and don't want to until I can afford GOOD 5.1 surround equipment). Yes, there have been hundreds of fine releases of Stravinsky's big three ballets (these two plus "Petrushka"). Nobody needs to run out and add this one to their collection UNLESS they need to be updated in terms of sound quality. That said, beginners could hardly do better than to start here.

Note to Channel Classics: could we possibly get a Mahler 7 from Fischer/Budapest Festival Orch.? Please, please, PLEASE?!?

This SACD is recorded with two sonic mind-sets:
One is the Firebird & tango, the other is the Rite of Spring:

The rite of spring:
Yes, the Channel Classics here "reveals EVERY detail of what's on offer", as the other reviewer put it - including a muffled, weak, unsubstantial bass attacks that robs the reading and the listening pleasure of what's in the score.
The orchestra is given a bit of too distance placement from the microphones (in the editing and in the 'control-board'/volume setting) as a result the sound does not have the concert hall spread nor a good large studio recording spread - its quite narrow and almost contained in a shoe-box (read that as unimpressive SACD offering of such a great music...)

I guess the recording team has done what's possible there (and a bit more by the extensive use of too many microphones) counting-in that the concert-hall stage there is cramp, not big enough for a beefed up orchestra - see photos of this recording and how the back of the stage is formed like a horse-shoe with the musicians practically flattened against the back-wall; Bad for such a gigantic work and that the players are huddled together there...
Quite a disappointment this one is, and one can whole heatedly turn to the Concertgebouw SACD recording or to the Bis SACD offering instead of this one.
I am certain the two DDD recordings with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, one on RCA (Yuri Temirkanov), the other on Tring label (Yuri Simonov) do this 'Rite of Spring' more justice, has more drive, more tension, and a better sound-stage presentation and both sound more dynamic. (Not to forget the Colin Davis conducting the Concertgebouw, an amazing achievement from the mid Seventies on a Philips ADD)...

The Firebird and the Tango - fare better and enjoy a better perspective of what's there is for a SACD recording:
The orchestra has a better spread, taken not from too far perspective and the details are quite clear, yet, again, the bass range is limited and the explosions on the bass are tamed (as if it was done in purpose as not to harm a mediocre home playback systems - so almost always the bass sounds like a Salami hitting the sofa...)
Nevertheless, the Firebird & Tango are the better recording as a whole, but a five star for this SACD...? i think not.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars