Historical Recordings - up to 25% off

“Having only four rehearsals at his disposal, Stravinsky achieved remarkable results… Although the performance of Agon is hardly pristine, there's a greater sense of rhythmic tension in the performance than the more technically secure studio recording made by the composer...” BBC Music Magazine, June 2009 ****

“Agon was then new, and is not the easiest work to play even now...but the performance... generally does its marvellous inventions justice, showing again that annexing serial techniques only made Stravinsky more characteristically and inimitably himself. The BBC strings’ Apollo, if not the most elegant in the world, is warm-hearted and full of life. The end of Firebird, played as an encore, rounds off a truly historic disc.” Sunday Times, 1st March 2009 ****

“Their tense astringency is compelling, and the sense of a very special occasion is palpable from the start.” The Guardian, 27th March 2009

“Conducting his own music on a visit to London in 1958, he gives his recently composed ballet music Agon a fiercely angular reading, full of snap and fizz. The Symphony is given a similarly committed performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, though they seem at moments to escape the composer's baton. Only in the neo-classical Apollo is a little lyricism allowed to round the edges” The Telegraph, 18th February 2009

“they certainly are exciting, not least because you sense the virtuosos of their day still struggling to master incredibly demanding new music. Forget the recording quality and revel in the rhythmic pungency.” The Times, 25th February 2012 ***

“Invaluable new transfers of Stravinsky on top form as a conductor. This electrifying performance is the finest of his Rite of Spring recordings, and the 1945 Firebird Suite is gripping.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 *****

“In February 1953, 17 months after the world premiere in Venice, The Rake's Progress received its first American production, conducted by Fritz Reiner. Less than a month later, this studio recording was made, with the smaller orchestra that Stravinsky envisaged. The cast remained the same, and we can be confident that the performance retains a good deal of Reiner-inspired professionalism. Stravinsky was never a conductor on that level but this version is a viable alternative to his more familiar second recording, made in London in 1964.
Mark Obert-Thorn has done an excellent job of restoration, providing a forward but wellbalanced sound. The cast is strong, though with more conventionally operatic qualities than would be favoured today. As Tom, Eugene Conley suggests ease in Verdi and Puccini rather than in Monteverdi, Mozart or Britten. The kind of florid passages that give Philip Langridge or Ian Bostridge no trouble are clearly strange territory for him. But he brings much more than mere fecklessness to the character and makes a strong contribution to those episodes in Act 2 where the dramatic temperature rather falls away.
It takes Baba the Turk and Sellem the Auctioneer to bring the opera back to life, and both performances here are admirable in avoiding excessive caricature. As Nick Shadow, Mack Harrell is almost too benign; his great outburst of rage in Act 3 is less forceful than most. Hilda Gueden, also on unfamiliar territory, manages the lullaby with touching simplicity.
The Rake was Stravinsky's farewell, as the possibilities of the 12-note method beckoned. But, this recording confirms, to dismiss the opera as a tired avowal of the need for fundamental change is grossly unjust.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Harrell's artfully insinuating Shadow and Thebom's eloquently nattering Baba… transcend their time and circumstances, and though Gueden is occasionally stymied by singing in English, her tone shows her in her prime.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2008

“Stravinsky’s music is just as many-faceted as the abrupt turns of the tale. It is however written with good understanding of the human voice and is eminently singable” MusicWeb International