Stravinsky: Apollon musagète

“The performances all have the sense of utter security, tonal depth and fabulous dynamic range that are characteristic of the Berlin Philharmonic in Rattle's era...The Berliners are so much on top of their parts that there is something almost too secure about the result...It's a superbly judged performance, with just the right balance between individuality in the wind playing and immaculate ensemble” The Guardian, 21st March 2013 ****

“Stravinsky famously disliked Karajan’s supersmooth 1960s account with this orchestra, but he surely would have responded more positively to Rattle, who never allows sheer beauty of sound to undermine the rhythmic pulsing...The Berliners’ strings may be plusher than Birmingham’s, and the woodwind soloists are instrumental royalty, but Rattle preserves the visceral barbarism of this ever-astonishing score.” Sunday Times, 31st March 2013

“it is the suavity of the score that startles, especially in Rattle's subtle use of rubato (stolen time) and the cool sensuality of the woodwind solos. Those woodwind players – currently vying with the principals of the Concertgebouw for the title of world's finest – shine again in Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments.” The Independent, 30th March 2013 *****

“Beautiful, all beautiful. But beauty is not enough. We also need the primitive and rude: ingredients that Rattle and the suave Berliners tend to deliver wearing kid gloves...If you’re after an interpretation in love with the score’s quieter corners, go for Rattle with confidence; if you want Stravinsky red in tooth and claw, he’s often hard to find.” The Times, 5th April 2013 ***

“You could be forgiven for thinking this was still Herbert von Karajan’s orchestra, such is the depth of colour in The Rite of Spring and weight of string sonority in Apollon Musagète.” Financial Times, 6th April 2013 ***

“the physical impact here of maximum Berlin Philharmonic firepower is part of what the music itself calls for...Compared to the clotted cream sonorities in evidence here, Rattle's CBSO recording is far truer to the music's poised incisiveness and grace. But his new reading of The Rite of Spring with the Berlin Philharmonic is a formidable achievement.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 *****

“It’s indecently luxuriant and played with a confidence which almost borders on complacency...This recording is full of...sounds which will have you dusting down your miniature score in disbelief. Rarely has the second half’s intro sounded so decadent and sweaty, and I whooped for joy at hearing a normally inaudible low horn rasp a few minutes near the close.” The Arts Desk, 6th April 2013

“This is a pretty considerable account of Le Sacre. I think there is, at times, a degree of greater urgency than was the case in 1987 - perhaps the presence of an audience helped; perhaps it’s the fact that an even more experienced Rattle is now at the helm of a virtuoso orchestra...a refined and excellent performance of Apollon Musagète which benefits not only from the virtuosity of the Berlin string players but also from the fastidious ear of their conductor.” MusicWeb International, April 2013

“[Stravinsky] would surely have warmed to this new version. Rattle’s sense of pacing and proportion is unerring, and the sound has a startling vividness that makes this familiar piece seem new. One hears thickets of ticking, twittering inner parts that normally stay in the background.” The Telegraph, 19th April 2013 ****

“Vital and colourful recordings from the 1980s, when Simon Rattle was at the height of his powers with the CBSO.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2010 ****

“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

“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 ****

“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 ****

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

“The 'rainbow colours' hinted at in Prokofiev's inspiration, lines by the poet Konstantin Balmont, are fully captured in this chameleonic performance. There are mysteries and passing hints of the numinous in this Apollo, too. Some may prefer the opulence of Karajan's full orchestral strings in the ballet (DG), but the lean Apollonian nimbleness of this Moscow ensemble, cleanly recorded, is surely a more authentic realisation.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2007 *****