Our Summer BAL 67: Stravinsky Symphony in three movements

[Pulcinella]

Premiered on 24 January 1946 (NYPO/Stravinsky), some nine months before Copland's Third (18 October 1946; BSO/Koussevitzky), Stravinsky's Symphony in three movements has fared better in number of available recordings than the Copland.

I suspect that, like me, many were introduced to the work by Stravinsky's Columbia recording (coupled on LP with the Violin concerto), which still holds a special attraction.
But which others are worth investigating?

OSR/Ansermet
Deutsches SO Berlin/Ashkenazy
Israel PO/Bernstein
American SO/Botstein
BPO/Boulez
Chicago SO/Boulez
Philharmonia/Craft
Bavarian RSO/Davis
LSO/Davis
OSR/Dutoit
VPO/Furtwangler
LSO/Gergiev
RSNO/Gibson
SW German RSO/Gielen
NYPO/Gilbert
LSO/Goossens
FrenchNRO/Horenstein
OSR/Jarvi
Moscow Phil SO/Kitayenko
Concertgebouw O/Klemperer
Philharmonia O/Klemperer
Bavarian RSO/Maazel
NYPO/Mehta
Bamberg SO/Nott
Melbourne SO/Otterloo
BPO/Rattle
CBSO/Rattle
LSO/Rozhdestvensky
Bavarian RSO/Sacher
Philharmonia O/Salonen
Finnish RSO/Saraste
NZSO/Shao
Philharmonia/Silvestri
Chicago SO/Solti
BBCSO/Stravinsky
Columbia SO/Stravinsky
NYPO/Stravinsky
SW German RSO/Stravinsky
LSO/MTT
St Petersburg State Academic SO/Titov

[Pulcinella]

Stravinsky: Symphony in three movements (video with score)

Haven't investigated yet to discover the performers:

https://youtu.be/FB-NzpYwC3Y

[Pulcinella]

I rather like this 'interpretation' too:

https://intermediaprojects.org/pages/Stravinsky.html

[Bryn]

Let's not forget the BBC Music Magazine cover disc (BBCSSO, Volkov):

[Pulcinella]

Let's not forget the BBC Music Magazine cover disc (BBCSSO, Volkov):

[gurnemanz]

I remember first being grabbed by this work in a broadcast Radio 3 concert which I think also included Schoenberg's A Survivor from Warsaw. It must have been late 60s or early 70s. I can't remember performers. I think I must have recorded it on reel-to-reel tape.

I have two CD versions: Composer/CSO, as mentioned, and Boulez/BPO

[LeMartinPecheur]

Apart from CSO/Stravinsky and the Volkov BBCMM I have Martin Cotton's somewhat left-field BaL choice from 2006, RSNO/ Gibson on budget Chandos.



Liked it when I got it but haven't made any side-by-side comparisons.

[ChrisBennell]

Stravinsky: Symphony in three movements (video with score)

Haven't investigated yet to discover the performers:

https://youtu.be/FB-NzpYwC3Y

Hey, that's pretty good - its Berlin Phil under Boulez, apparently. Fascinating to try to follow the score. I can look forward to some happy hours with this - !

[Pulcinella]

Hey, that's pretty good - its Berlin Phil under Boulez, apparently. Fascinating to try to follow the score. I can look forward to some happy hours with this - !

Described in the 2009 Penguin Guide as follows:
The Symphony in three movements brings a violent approach from Boulez, with the Berliners relishing the jazzy outbursts of the outer movements and the warmth of the central slow movement.

Like LMP, I haven't done any side-by-side comparisons, but I don't remember being particularly disappointed by any of the (several!) in my collection; I'm hoping that this thread will prompt me to listen to at least some of them more critically.
That said, I HAVE just (re)listened to the BBCMM CD, and found it a bit ponderous and bottom heavy in places, but maybe I need to check the markings in the score!

[Richard Barrett]

This is an interesting choice... for some reason I've never spent much time with this piece, in comparison with the Symphony in C which I know very well. Recently I (predictably) listened a few times to the Gielen recording and liked it a lot. Actually, that and the CBS Stravinsky are the only ones I have. I'll try to listen to a couple more over the weekend.

[jayne lee wilson]

Away from the more obvious choices, I would strongly recommend the LSO/Goosens, especially on the 24/96 Everest mastering from tape originals, as The One for sheer impact and immediacy. The LSO play with an apt off-the-hook rawness, sound is physically stunning, with jagged, weighty rhythms hitting the bulls-eye every time. Humour and colour to die for. You won't forget your first encounter with this one!
(The Ebony Concerto is thrown off with great wit & panache).

A recording of Startling realism and Vivid acoustic presence. A winner!

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/stravinsky-ebony-concerto-symphony-in-3-movements-transferred-from-the-original-everest-records-master-tapes-woody-herman-and-his-orchestra-london-symphony-orchestra-sir-eugene-goossens/0848033016120

[Bryn]

Away from the more obvious choices, I would strongly recommend the LSO/Goosens, especially on the 24/96 Everest mastering from tape originals, as The One for sheer impact and immediacy. The LSO play with an apt off-the-hook rawness, sound is physically stunning, with jagged, weighty rhythms hitting the bulls-eye every time. Humour and colour to die for. You won't forget your first encounter with this one!
(The Ebony Concerto is thrown off with great wit & panache).

A recording of Startling realism and Vivid acoustic presence. A winner!

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/st.../0848033016120

I bought the LP in my youth. Having been besotted with the work since first hearing it on the Third Programme prior to my teens and further having saved up to buy the composer's Columbia recording when it came out, I thought the Goosens a pale alternative. My disdain brought a shocked response from fellow Scratch Orchestra member Hugh Shrapnel when I mentioned it to him. He held the recording in similar regard to your own. Listening anew, I wonder if my earlier reaction was conditioned by the somewhat scrappy and relatively prosaic performance of the Ebony Concerto by the ageing Woody Herman's band on the same LP (again, my benchmark was the composer's recording with Benny Goodman). I still find the composer's own recorded performances of both works more 'punchy' but there is no denying the considerable precision and general architecture of the Goosens. Thanks for the fillip to my reconsidering this recording.

[The QOBUZ offering is decidedly overpriced.]

[Pulcinella]

I too had the Goossens LP in my youth, but now have little recollection of it (though the scrappy Ebony concerto rings a vague bell); it seems not to be available on Deezer.
:-(

I also had the Klemperer (well, it was coupled with Pulcinella Suite (), and had a nice Picasso on the cover), and thought it decidedly stogy. Not a version I used to play.

https://www.discogs.com/Stravinsky-Otto-Klemperer-Philharmonia-Orchestra-Symphony-In-Three-Movements-Pulcinella-Suite/release/5617372

Listened (via Deezer) to the ones I could find there yesterday: Nott, Davis (LSO) (though I have that on CD too), and Kitayenko (I think; Deezer was not very clear, and all I could tell was that Moscow was somehow involved!); not as impressed with the Nott as I'd hoped to be from a review I'd seen.

[silvestrione]

Premiered on 24 January 1946 (NYPO/Stravinsky), some nine months before Copland's Third (18 October 1946; BSO/Koussevitzky), Stravinsky's Symphony in three movements has fared better in number of available recordings than the Copland.

I suspect that, like me, many were introduced to the work by Stravinsky's Columbia recording (coupled on LP with the Violin concerto), which still holds a special attraction.
But which others are worth investigating?

OSR/Ansermet
Deutsches SO Berlin/Ashkenazy
Israel PO/Bernstein
American SO/Botstein
BPO/Boulez
Chicago SO/Boulez
Philharmonia/Craft
Bavarian RSO/Davis
LSO/Davis
OSR/Dutoit
VPO/Furtwangler
LSO/Gergiev
RSNO/Gibson
SW German RSO/Gielen
NYPO/Gilbert
LSO/Goossens
FrenchNRO/Horenstein
OSR/Jarvi
Moscow Phil SO/Kitayenko
Concertgebouw O/Klemperer
Philharmonia O/Klemperer
Bavarian RSO/Maazel
NYPO/Mehta
Bamberg SO/Nott
Melbourne SO/Otterloo
BPO/Rattle
CBSO/Rattle
LSO/Rozhdestvensky
Bavarian RSO/Sacher
Philharmonia O/Salonen
Finnish RSO/Saraste
NZSO/Shao
?/Silvestri
Chicago SO/Solti
BBCSO/Stravinsky
Columbia SO/Stravinsky
NYPO/Stravinsky
SW German RSO/Stravinsky
LSO/MTT
St Petersburg State Academic SO/Titov

The Silvestri is with the Philharmonia. Not quite normal territory for him. I must give it a spin later.

[Pulcinella]

The Silvestri is with the Philharmonia. Not quite normal territory for him. I must give it a spin later.

Thanks; list updated.