Stravinsky - The Firebird & Symphony of Psalms
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
There is plenty of colour and razor-sharp playing in this new version, the recording vividly capturing the orchestra in the splendid acoustics of Symphony Hall...The control in the woodwind...
Stravinsky - The Firebird & Symphony of Psalms
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Purchase product
There is plenty of colour and razor-sharp playing in this new version, the recording vividly capturing the orchestra in the splendid acoustics of Symphony Hall...The control in the woodwind...
About
After their much lauded CD of Richard Strauss, Stravinsky is the next great composer of the 20th century to feature the CBSO under its music director Andris Nelsons. On this, their third CD with Orfeo, Stravinsky the avant-gardist on his way to world fame is represented by the complete Firebird ballet, while the Symphony of Psalms is testament to the mature composer. Nelsons and the CBSO leave us in no doubt that even at the age of 27, Stravinsky could draw on an embarrassment of compositional riches. By contrast the Symphony of Psalms is steeped in Orthodox austerity and as you would expect, the CBSO Chorus, trained by Simon Halsey, offers a well-drilled interpretation that captivates the listener until the last “Laudate Dominum”.
CONCERT REVIEWS:
“He and they rose brilliantly to the challenge of Stravinsky’s dazzling score The Firebird. As if the build-up in the final sections, superbly paced, were not thrilling enough, three trumpeters appeared in front of the organ to crown the closing bars from on high. Absolutely spine-tingling.” Evening Standard, 29 July 2009 *****
“a triumph of discipline, energy and imagination” The Independent
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
September 2010
There is plenty of colour and razor-sharp playing in this new version, the recording vividly capturing the orchestra in the splendid acoustics of Symphony Hall...The control in the woodwind fugue opening the second movement [of the Symphony of Psalms] is mesmerising, and the CBSO Chorus is meticulous in following the nuances of the score.
13th May 2010
Nelsons is good on the unease of the opening [of The Firebird], the violence of the Infernal Dance and the strange undertones of sensuality in the swaying nocturne...[Symphony of Psalms is] powerfully done, with real fervour in the choral singing, and Nelsons gets the difficult mix of austerity and ritual grandeur absolutely right.
6th June 2010
This is not a sumptuous Firebird – indeed it is quite lean and hungry – but it is very sharply characterised and full of exotic sounds, beautifully captured and rising to a thrilling Infernal Dance and final climax.
23rd April 2010
The volatility of The Firebird...is excitingly airborne in Nelsons’s hands, with plenty of the luminous orchestral detail...This is a performance with narrative coherence and dramatic vitality...always attentive to the enlivening spectrum of instrumental timbres that Stravinsky deployed
