Stravinsky: Jeu de cartes (Card Game)

“…virile, cogent performances… The statuesque quality of these ballets is ever-present, but these performances also bring them vividly to life in the mind's eye.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2009

“…performances that project vibrant rhythmic urgency alongside a wonderful attention to internal detail and a subtle control of instrumental colour.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 *****

“This is a fine new Stravinsky disc from the excellent partnership of Ilan Volkov and the BBC SSO … It’s an account that is similar in many ways to Stravinsky’s own Sony Classical recording, but obviously in better sound. Volkov and his players seem to perform the work with even greater confidence and joie de vivre … The notes are by Stephen Walsh and are a model of clarity and conciseness, allied to deep understanding of the music. With such purposeful, sensitive conducting and such assured playing, this can be very warmly recommended” International Record Review

“Both works [Jeu de cartes and Agon] suit Volkov's sinewy, precise style down to the ground, and are quite thrillingly played.” The Guardian, 11th September 2009

“There are times when Craft brings a welcome rhythmic drive to the music, as in parts of Jeu de cartes and quite a lot of Danses concertantes. But energy, nervous excitement, biting wit - all these seem in short supply.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 ***

“This collection of Stravinsky's later ballets represents the composer in lighter mood, making a delightful sequence, very well played and recorded under the authoritative direction of the composer's principal amanuensis. Jeux de cartes ('The Card Game') of 1936 points directly forward to Stravinsky's style in his opera The Rake'sProgress, the piece reflecting his love of the game of poker: the three main sections of the ballet represent first, second and third deals, with the Joker figuring in each. The piece was written for the great choreographer Georges Balanchine.
Craft's performance with the Philharmonia has an aptly clean attack, with the chugging rhythms well lifted, very suitable for ballet.
Danses concertantes represents Stravinsky in even lighter mood, the first major work he wrote after his arrival in the United States. It's fun music full of playfulness, ending with a jolly galloping theme in compound time. Scènes de ballet of 1944 was commissioned for a Broadway show, but sadly, the bars in 5/4 time were too difficult for the theatre orchestra to play, and it had to be abandoned for its original purpose, only to emerge later as a full concert piece and ballet.
Variations, much the shortest item on the disc, represents Stravinsky using 12-tone technique, an uncompromising, densely packed five minutes which makes for difficult listening, while the Capriccio for piano and orchestra of 1929 returns to his jolly and light-hearted mood, the popular rhythms jauntily presented. Mark Wait is an outstanding soloist. Altogether, a delightful collection brilliantly played and recorded.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…a delightful collection brilliantly played and recorded.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2008

“Stravinsky was not perhaps natural Svetlanov territory, the but conductor inspires some surprisingly lyrical playing in the slower sections of Rite, whilst Jeu de Cartes is projected with wit and considerable virtuosity.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2008 ****

“This is a great little set, coupling a ravishing Apollon musagète with a truly stunning Rite ofSpring. The Petrushka is equally fine. The fact that Stravinsky's revision of Apollon dispensed with 'half the woodwind, two of the three harps, glockenspiel and celesta from the original scoring' hardly constitutes the bleaching process that a less colour-sensitive performance might have allowed. Part of the effect comes from a remarkably fine recording where clarity and tonal bloom are complementary, but Chailly must take the credit for laying all Stravinsky's cards on the table rather than holding this or that detail to his chest. Everything tells, much as it does in the Scherzo fantastique – whether the euphonious winds and brass at 3'52", the motorised repeated notes later on or the ornamental swirlings that, in stylistic terms, dance us all the way from Rimsky's Arabian Nights to the unmistakably Russian world of The Firebird.
Apollon musagète is something else again, and Chailly takes the lyrical line, pointing without punching and allowing his excellent strings their head. The coda is jaunty, the 'Apothéose' suitably mysterious, and 'Variation d'Apollon' features fine solo work from the orchestra's leader, Jaap van Zweden. Viable alternatives include leaner, more ascetic readings, but Chailly balances gracefulness with tonal substance and the sound is glorious.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010