Stravinsky: Circus Polka

Zubin Mehta’s Decca legacy has extensively been mined by Eloquence and the latest release in this on-going exploration brings together all of his Stravinsky recordings for Decca on one CD for the first time. As one might expect, they are technicolour, sharply-etched performances (from Los Angeles) of two of Stravinsky’s greatest ballet scores – Le sacre du printemps and Petrushka, as well as the cheeky Circus Polka, and, with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (made up of LAPO members) the rarer Eight Instrumental Miniatures. The recording is issued in time for the centenary of the scandalous premiere (May 1913) of Le sacre.

For her previous CD on the ORFEO label, Baiba Skride recorded two highly Romantic violin works by Brahms and has now turned her attention to two 20th-century violin concertos whose composers struck out in extremely individual directions while drawing on traditional formal models.

In his single contribution to the medium, the worldly Stravinsky drew on his knowledge of the whole history of music and explicitly appealed to the model of Johann Sebastian Bach in composing a work that is rigorously structured and at the same time playful in a neo-Baroque spirit. It would be harder to find a more different approach to the template of the traditional three-movement concerto than that found in the piece by the Swiss composer Frank Martin. In its atmospheric density it recalls Martin’s setting of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, dominated, as it were, by the mysterious, fairytale-like but also capricious and lively spirit of Ariel. Baiba Skride finds the right tone not only for the veiled sonorities of this piece but also for the tremendous sense of brightness that overwhelms the writing towards the end. Her enormous stylistic flexibility also comes to the fore in the Stravinsky Concerto, to which she brings a sense of crystalline radiance. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and its principal conductor Thierry Fischer are not only ideal partners, they also complement the programme with three almost contemporary orchestral works, all of which are classic examples of the way in which composers’ understanding of form – in this case, programme music – changed in the 20th century. In Honegger’s Pacific 231 and Rugby, the orchestra impresses us with its ability to conjure up the sounds of a speeding train and of rugby players running to and fro. The orchestra completes the programme on a note of grotesque jollity with Stravinsky’s Circus Polka, the quotation-like character of which – in this case, Schubert – may also be said to hold together the programme as a whole, with its two violin works in central position, invariably maintaining the greatest originality in this act of musical re-creation.

Composing at the piano was a life-long preoccupation for Stravinsky, whose music for the instrument spans a forty-year period and reflects his distinct stylistic changes. In his Four Etudes of 1908 the use of complex rhythmical patterns between the hands makes for fiendishly difficult execution. The clarity of each of the 1924 Sonatas’ three movements recalls the musical language of the 18th century. In 1925 Stravinsky embarked on a groundbreaking tour of the United States, where he signed his first recording contract for Brunswick. It was for this company that he wrote the Serenade, designing each movement to fit neatly on one side of a 78rpm gramophone record.

“Victor Sangiorgio, a pianist new to me, plays this music with authority and assertiveness, captured in excellent sound….there is a wonderful revelation waiting in store for you!” Audiophile Audition

The Eloquence / Ansermet journey continues with a much-anticipated and unique set: the early Stravinsky/Ansermet Decca discography with recordings made in the decade from 1946 – 1955, with, as a bonus, the hitherto unissued on CD recording of the Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss recorded in 1962. The detailed booklet notes by Richard Kaplan are supplemented with full-page reproductions of many of the original LP covers in both, their original form and reissued LP formats. All the recordings appear internationally on Decca CD for the first time.