BaL 13.02.2021 - Stravinsky: Pulcinella

[Pulcinella]

For Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Igor Stravinsky travelled back in time and rediscovered music by 18th-century composer Pergolesi and his contemporaries, weaving a brand new ballet but nevertheless giving it a distinctive 20th-century tang. Jonathan Cross has been listening to recordings of the ballet - and of the suite Stravinsky crafted therefrom - and joins Andrew to work his way towards choosing the ultimate Pulcinella.

Note this (new?) style of wording at the top of the Record Review programme listing on the website.

Jonathan Cross discusses Stravinsky's delightful blast-from-the-past ballet with Andrew and settles on the must-have recording to buy, download or stream. Plus the very best of the latest classical releases.

There is no mention of which version (or both), but here is a list complied from the Presto site (which itself is not accurate in some places) of what I found was currently available. There is another (Hickox) I'm aware of that seems to be nla; I left in the list brought over from Recordings in Discussion, where there is a separate thread:

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?20033-Stravinsky-Pulcinella-(complete)

The listing format is based on that list, and is a little different from Alpie's usual layout, in that I've put the conductor first.

(I'm starting this thread with Alpie's blessing and encouragement, btw; I haven't usurped his role. )

Full ballet

Abbado/LSO/Berganza/Davies/Shirley-Quirk (CD, D)
Ansermet/OSR/Tyler/Franzini/Carmeli (CD, D)
Boulez/Chicago SO/Constantinescu/Phan/Ketelsen (nla? Issued on the CSO Resound label)
Boulez/Ensemble Intercontemporain/Murray/Rolfe Johnson/Estes (CD, D)
Chailly/RCO/Antonacci/Ballo/Shimell (Presto CD, D)
Craft/Philharmonia/Montague/Leggate/Beesley (CD, D)
Gielen/Stuttgart RSO/Moser/Hollweg/McDaniel (CD, D)
Haitink/Berlin Phil/Borodina/Ainsley/D’Arcangelo (Presto CD, D)
Hickox/CLS/Murray/Hill/Thomas (nla?)
Hogwood/St Paul Chamber Orchestra/Manca Di Nissa/Gordon/Ostendorf (D)
Hogwood/SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg/Augér/Gambill/Scheder (CD)
Marriner/ASMF/Kenny/Tear/Lloyd (D)
Rattle/Northern Sinfonia/Smith/Fryatt/King (D)
Salonen/London Sinfonietta/Kenny/Aler/Tomlinson (D)
Sanderling/Bournemouth Sinfonietta/Jones/Bostridge/Herford (CD, D)
Schwarz/Seattle SO/Graham/Wilson/Opalach (D)
Stravinsky/Cleveland O/Simmons/Schnittke/MacGregor (CD, D)
Stravinsky/Columbia SO/Jordan/Shirley/Gramm (CD, D)


Suite

Ansermet/OSR (D)
Argenta/Orchestre National de France (CD)
Ashkenazy/Iceland SO (D)
Bernadi/CBC Vancouver Orchestra (D)
Bernstein/Israel PO (Presto CD, D)
Bernstein/NYPO (Presto CD, D)
Boulez/NYPO (SACD, D)
Falletta/Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (D)
Gibson/English Chamber Orchestra (D)
Hogwood/Basel Chamber Orchestra (D)
Janiczek/Chamber Orchstra of Europe (CD)
Jolev/Sofia Philharmonic O (D)
Kegel/Dresden Philharmonic (D)
Klemperer/Bavarian Radio SO (D)
Klemperer/Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI (D)
Klemperer/Philharmonia (D)
Markevitch/FNRO (CD, mono)
Marriner/ASMF (D)
Monteux/Boston SO (CD, D)
Outwater/River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (D)
Pons/Orquestra de Camba Teatre Lliure (D)
Pople/London Festival Orchestra (D)
Saraste/Avanti Chamber Orchestra (CD, D)
Sieghart/Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra (D)
Stravinsky/Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana (1954 concert performance) (CD, D)
Stravinsky/Columbia SO (CD, D)
Suzuki/Tapiola Sinfonietta (SACD, D)
van Zwenden/Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic (D) [Also listed as Radio Kamer Filharmonie]
Wand/Bavarian Radio SO (CD, D)
Wand/NDR SO (Presto CD, D)
Weilerstein/Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (SACD)

There is also a DVD of Stravinsky seen in rehearsal and performance segments with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1967.


As ever, corrections/additions welcome!

[vinteuil]

.

Hi Pulcinella -

would you like to share your story as to why Pulcinella is your character, and where the enthusiasm came from?


.

[Petrushka]

I'd be pretty sure that the full ballet will be discussed as I can't see much point in doing the suite alone while attempting both is using up valuable time.

I've got Abbado, Chailly, Haitink, Marriner, Rattle and Salonen. The only time I've heard it live was LSO/Abbado with the same line up of soloists and at around the same time as the recording was made.

There's little to quibble about with any of those I have though I do have a soft spot for the Marriner which has a sense of spontaneity and sounds as if all had a good time recording it. That might just swing it for me!

[Bryn]

I'd be pretty sure that the full ballet will be discussed as I can't see much point in doing the suite alone while attempting both is using up valuable time.

I've got Abbado, Chailly, Haitink, Marriner, Rattle and Salonen. The only time I've heard it live was LSO/Abbado with the same line up of soloists and at around the same time as the recording was made.

There's little to quibble about with any of those I have though I do have a soft spot for the Marriner which has a sense of spontaneity and sounds as if all had a good time recording it. That might just swing it for me!

What, neither of Stravinsky's own recordings? Having grown up with the second of the composer's own recordings, I found the early Rattle rather disappointing. The Abbado, though, I thought very fine. Unfortunately, what DVD options there were, appear to have fallen out of the catalogue. There is, however, this, on Youtube:

[Pulcinella]

.

Hi Pulcinella -

would you like to share your story as to why Pulcinella is your character, and where the enthusiasm came from?


.

That's tricky, but I think it's no more really than a long-standing attraction to the piece, and hence a fairly obvious choice of character as my Forum name.
I've mentioned elsewhere that, with Brahms S2 as our A-Level set work and The development of the concerto as set topic (and in my case Brahms Op 117 Intermezzi as my practical piano pieces; I found them very hard!), the small music set at school had a period a week with the Head of Physics (a violist), who 'introduced' us to C20 music, huddled round a score, if he had one. I'm not sure what pieces by Stravinsky we listened to (I certainly remember that we listened to Berg's Lyric Suite, and I suspect the Violin concerto too; also probably the Bartok String quartets: those early Saga Fine Arts Quartet LPs!), but I do remember having both the Marriner ASMF and Ansermet OSR recordings of the suite as LPs early on in my collection, as well as buying as many Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky LPs as I could find.
I see that I bought my copy of the score of the suite on a visit to Oxford on 2 May 1970.

For me, it neatly accommodates the two periods of music that appealed to me then, and still do.

[ardcarp]

This...

Diaghilev wanted a ballet based on an early 18th-century commedia dell'arte libretto and music then believed to have been composed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. This attribution has since been proved to be spurious. Some of the music may have been by Domenico Gallo, Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer, Carlo Ignazio Monza and Alessandro Parisotti.

...doesn't worry me a bit, as Stravinsky's Pulcinella is just a FABULOUS neo-classical work, both the Suite and the full ballet score. I only wish I'd seen the ballet live in the flesh, so to speak.

[vinteuil]

For me, it neatly accommodates the two periods of music that appealed to me then, and still do.

... thank you for your vivid account. Interesting how those early attachments can remain the strongest

.

[Bryn]

This...



...doesn't worry me a bit, as Stravinsky's Pulcinella is just a FABULOUS neo-classical work, both the Suite and the full ballet score. I only wish I'd seen the ballet live in the flesh, so to speak.

What about the Suite Italienne, in either violin or cello versions?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm in the market for a recording of this work, so I'll be listening with keen ears. I got to know the suite, playing the oboe in the university orchestra in 1970. It was quite different from any Stravinsky work I'd heard up to this point. Sometimes, after playing in a performance of such a wonderful work, a recording can seem inadequate. But perhaps 50 years down the line, it's time to bite the bullet.

[visualnickmos]

I'm in the market for a recording of this work, so I'll be listening with keen ears. I got to know the suite, playing the oboe in the university orchestra in 1970. It was quite different from any Stravinsky work I'd heard up to this point. Sometimes, after playing in a performance of such a wonderful work, a recording can seem inadequate. But perhaps 50 years down the line, it's time to bite the bullet.

I have the suite, on Decca (Marriner ASMF) and it's pretty good, very good, actually.

[Pulcinella]

What about the Suite Italienne, in either violin or cello versions?

Or even in an arrangement for Guitar quartet, which popped up on the Presto site!

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8733783--from-classic-to-jazz-transcriptions-for-guitar-quartet

[BBMmk2]

Ballet, like opera, I find better to listen to:the music, as opposed to watching it. Therefore, recordings are my way forward.

[Bryn]

Ballet, like opera, I find better to listen to:the music, as opposed to watching it. Therefore, recordings are my way forward.

Well, I suppose the thumping about on stage and the ubiquitous applause at the slightest excuse, by the balletomanes, can get in the way of the music, but without the dance, the work is not really complete, surely?

[makropulos]

Well, I suppose the thumping about on stage and the ubiquitous applause at the slightest excuse, by the balletomanes, can get in the way of the music, but without the dance, the work is not really complete, surely?

Take your point, but that doesn't stop it being a hugely satisfying work without the dancing. I've got quite a few recordings and one surprising success is Hogwood with the St Paul Chamber Orch on Decca, which also includes performances of several of the pieces that Stravinsky used as sources. Great to hear those, and the performance of the Stravinsky is pretty good. I very much enjoy Stravinsky's own recordings of this piece too. As well as Abbado's complete recording on DG, there's also a live RFH from the same time on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwwSQ9rMpLA. I remember the first time I heard it a few years earlier, when Leinsdorf did it at the 1971 Proms (Anne Howells, Robert Tear, Ben Luxon, Philharmonia). That was hugely enjoyable at the time.

[Bryn]

Take your point, but that doesn't stop it being a hugely satisfying work without the dancing. I've got quite a few recordings and one surprising success is Hogwood with the St Paul Chamber Orch on Decca, which also includes performances of several of the pieces that Stravinsky used as sources. Great to hear those, and the performance of the Stravinsky is pretty good. I very much enjoy Stravinsky's own recordings of this piece too. As well as Abbado's complete recording on DG, there's also a live RFH from the same time on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwwSQ9rMpLA. I remember the first time I heard it a few years earlier, when Leinsdorf did it at the 1971 Proms (Anne Howells, Robert Tear, Ben Luxon, Philharmonia). That was hugely enjoyable at the time.

I must admit, I have never seen it danced, in situ and was bowled over by the composer's stereo recording when it came out. It quickly became a 'sing-along' work for me. I recall trying to sing some of it to a girlfriend from Piacenza who responded: "but that's not Italian". After a second attempt, she advised it sounded like an ancient local dialogue, possibly from Naples.