| Stravinsky The Firebird – suite (1919) c. a Grace Bumbry (mez); Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra / Lorin Maazel. |
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| DG The Originals (Mid price) (CD) 447 414-2GOR (65 minutes: ADD). Items marked ab from SLPM139115 (4/66), c SLPM138006 (12/58). |
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Fuss as we may about the glories of vintage Decca, Mercury and RCA recordings (with some good justification, I might add), there can't be many 'golden oldies' of the LP era that are more impressive than Lorin's Maazel's 1957 recording of the Firebird Suite, a brilliant reading, spectacularly well engineered and sounding particularly fine in this full-bodied Originals transfer. Of course much of the credit must go to Maazel himself (he was just 27 at the time), whose superb conducting technique facilitates a wealth of colour and dynamic inflexion. The playing of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra is refined, precise and – in Kastchei's "Infernal Dance", especially – extremely high-powered, while the orchestral balance allows for numerous points of scoring that might otherwise (indeed, often do) remain ill-focused.
Some eight years later, Maazel revisited the same location (Jesus-Christus Kirche, Berlin) for a Falla programme – and again, the results were remarkable. Here what impresses most is a consistent sense of musical line, especially in El amor brujo (just try the "Pantomime"), where Grace Bumbry's strong, stylish singing serves as an added attraction. The Three-cornered Hat Dances could hardly be more idiomatic, as in the opening "Fandango", for example, where Maazel's control of rhythm and rubato is quite masterly; or in the painstakingly articulated "Danza final", a piece which can so often degenerate into mere rowdiness. Everywhere there's evidence of a firm hand at the helm, a genuine moulding influence. Maazel cuts a dash, as they say, and although he has since gone on to make numerous other distinguished recordings, few have proved as inspired as these. Strongly recommended.
RC