Our Summer BAL 74: Stravinsky Les noces

[Pulcinella]

So does anyone who knows the Bernstein recording have one they prefer?

I have just 'sandwiched' my lunchtime cheese sandwich between listening to the Wood and Bernstein versions, and the Wood is certainly up there with the best (imho) and could possibly even supplant the Bernstein in my affections.
The soprano soloist is certainly 'full bodied', but surely 'authentic', and the soloists are in general not so forward in the recording compared to the Bernstein, giving a better impression of being more involved in the whole affair.
The pianos are razor sharp, the cymbal has a clear edge to it, and my goodness, the chorus sounds like it's having fun.

Well worth a listen, but (since it's a Hyperion release) I'm not sure how readily available it is for streaming.

What a great work this is.

[Serial_Apologist]

So does anyone who knows the Bernstein recording have one they prefer?

Embarrassingly enough, although I've heard the Bernstein, it remains the Stravinsky version on CBS from the early 1960s coupled with "Renard" and "Ragtime" on t'other side that is my preference, even though in their English version sounds as if performed by a bunch of Hooray Henrys off the Kings Road on a Saturday night jolly. It's the pacing that ensures it for me, as well - naturally - as the composer celebrities starring on the pianos!

[Pulcinella]

Embarrassingly enough, although I've heard the Bernstein, it remains the Stravinsky version on CBS from the early 1960s coupled with "Renard" and "Ragtime" on t'other side that is my preference, even though in their English version sounds as if performed by a bunch of Hooray Henrys off the Kings Road on a Saturday night jolly. It's the pacing that ensures it for me, as well - naturally - as the composer celebrities starring on the pianos!

That version even featured on a BBC MM CD (Vol VI, No 6):

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Modern-Classics/release/3397344

[Richard Barrett]

I have just 'sandwiched' my lunchtime cheese sandwich between listening to the Wood and Bernstein versions, and the Wood is certainly up there with the best (imho) and could possibly even supplant the Bernstein in my affections.
The soprano soloist is certainly 'full bodied', but surely 'authentic', and the soloists are in general not so forward in the recording compared to the Bernstein, giving a better impression of being more involved in the whole affair.
The pianos are razor sharp, the cymbal has a clear edge to it, and my goodness, the chorus sounds like it's having fun.

Well worth a listen, but (since it's a Hyperion release) I'm not sure how readily available it is for streaming.

What a great work this is.

Well, I have a lot of time for James Wood, so after such a recommendation I think I shall just buy it.

[Pulcinella]

Well, I have a lot of time for James Wood, so after such a recommendation I think I shall just buy it.

I hope you won't aim your revolver, even if unloaded, at me if you don't like it.

It got other good reviews, and has some interesting couplings:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8036409--stravinsky-les-noces#reviews

[Pulcinella]

I have just discovered that the Wood was the Radio 3 Building a Library choice in May 2000:

Reviewer: Iain Burnside 6/5/00
Voronezh Chamber Choir, New London Chamber Choir, Ensemble, James Wood (director) (recorded 1990)
HYPERION CDA 66410 (CD)

It's since been reissued and is now on Helios, CDH 55467 (as seen in link in post #35).

[LeMartinPecheur]

It's always tended to be the Bernstein for me, as much because of the equally excellent performance of the Mass with which it is coupled. I do have a soft for the Pokrovsky 'experiment' with the midi electric pianos - it obviously makes for phenomenal accuracy (which IS might have approved of...) but they do sound a bit gimmicky in places, especially tonally. But the singing is wonderful; Pokrovsky really did his homework on the folk style, which is genuinely raw and exciting. The nearest thing in a 'normal' recording for me is the Currentzis, a standout performance coupled with his bizarre Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (Pat Kop) - worth downloading his Les Noces cheaply and forgetting the Tchaik...(imo)

By coincidence, last night I and best musical mate listened to this disc right through. Agree the Les Noces is extremely good (I have the James Wood Hyperion but would need to compare closely to express a winner) but the Tchaik is absolutely sensational and a must-hear IMHO. This isn't to say that I can't see why anyone should dislike it: I'm sure many will hate it. But the violin-playing is extraordinary and will galvanise anyone who thinks they've heard all there is in this work. My initial comment was that I wanted to rush to the BBC Gramophone Library and see whether the oldest recordings by the oldest violinists used anything like Kopatchinskaya's freedom with those plain old notes in the score Even if I owned it I'll still hang on to plainer readings because this one is a really unrelaxing rendition!

[Richard Barrett]

I did rather like the Wood recording, especially the singing which sounds to me (admittedly as a non-Russian speaker) more idiomatic than Bernstein, although I could have wished for a tad more sonic definition where the pianos are concerned. The whole programme of the CD is very interesting though, with a few things I don't remember hearing before. By the way, I also came back from my visit to Hyperion with three BBCSSO/Volkov Stravinsky albums, two of ballets and one of the music for piano and orchestra (and a couple of other bits and pieces) with Steven Osborne. So far I've listened to the last of these and I'd have to say that I've never found the Concerto, Capriccio and Movements particularly engaging until now. So thanks Pulcinella for the recommendation, it was more expensive than I'd anticipated but very worthwhile.

[Pulcinella]

I did rather like the Wood recording, especially the singing which sounds to me (admittedly as a non-Russian speaker) more idiomatic than Bernstein, although I could have wished for a tad more sonic definition where the pianos are concerned. The whole programme of the CD is very interesting though, with a few things I don't remember hearing before. By the way, I also came back from my visit to Hyperion with three BBCSSO/Volkov Stravinsky albums, two of ballets and one of the music for piano and orchestra (and a couple of other bits and pieces) with Steven Osborne. So far I've listened to the last of these and I'd have to say that I've never found the Concerto, Capriccio and Movements particularly engaging until now. So thanks Pulcinella for the recommendation, it was more expensive than I'd anticipated but very worthwhile.

IIRC, there are gaps (tracks) that appear even for a gapless CD player, I think, in Agon, though! That certainly put me off wanting to buy it.

Yes: the piano and orchestra CD is a winner (even if you don't really need another recording of the Concerto in D for string orchestra), as is the Britten collection (Piano concerto with both versions of the third movement, Young Apollo, Diversions) by the same forces.
Incidentally, the BBCSSO under Volkov also feature on a BBC MM CD (Vol 13, No 3), playing The song of the nightingale, Symphony in C, and Symphony in 3 movements.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Igor-Stravinsky-Symphonic-Nightingale-Movements/dp/B00BHMR4V8

[Bryn]

IIRC, there are gaps (tracks) that appear even for a gapless CD player, I think, in Agon, though!

Yes: the piano and orchestra CD is a winner (even if you don't really need another recording of the Concerto in D for string orchestra), as is the Britten collection (Piano concerto with both versions of the third movement, Young Apollo, Diversions) by the same forces.
Incidentally, the BBCSSO under Volkov also feature on a BBC MM CD (Vol 13, No 3), playing The song of the nightingale, Symphony in C, and Symphony in 3 movements.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Igor-Stravi.../dp/B00BHMR4V8

Somewhat OT but Stravinsky did share the Tchailovsly Experience on Radio 3, Ilan Volkov and the BBCSSO also recorded the original version of Tchaikovsky's 1st Symphony, 'Winter Daydreams', the only recording of the version, I think. It was broadcast during said Tchaikovsky Experience but has not, I think, been made available otherwise. I rely on the DAB mp2 I saved.

[Pulcinella]

Somewhat OT but Stravinsky did share the Tchailovsly Experience on Radio 3, Ilan Volkov and the BBCSSO also recorded the original version of Tchaikovsky's 1st Symphony, 'Winter Daydreams', the only recording of the version, I think. It was broadcast during said Tchaikovsky Experience but has not, I think, been made available otherwise. I rely on the DAB mp2 I saved.

Just in case you're misremembering.....
The next BBC MM CD (Vol 13, No 4) has Tchaikovsky S1, but with the BBCPO under Sinaisky, recorded in July 2004. I see no mention of a version in the documentation though (other than a comment: completed in 1866 with some revisions in 1874).
I suspect that if this recording is of the original it would say so.
I can't remember now when that combined Experience was.

[Bryn]

Just in case you're misremembering.....
The next BBC MM CD (Vol 13, No 4) has Tchaikovsky S1, but with the BBCPO under Sinaisky, recorded in July 2004. I see no mention of a version in the documentation though (other than a comment: completed in 1866 with some revisions in 1874).
I suspect that if this recording is of the original it would say so.
I can't remember now when that combined Experience was.

No misremembering here, the Tchaikovsky Experience was broadcast "Continuously, from 10 - 16 February 2007". See also #15 and #26 of this thread. The Tchaikovsky Experience included both the original and revised versions of 'Winter Daydreams'.

[Pulcinella]

No misremembering here, the Tchaikovsky Experience was broadcast "Continuously, from 10 - 16 February 2007". See also #15 and #26 of this thread. The Tchaikovsky Experience included both the original and revised versions of 'Winter Daydreams'.

Just a serendipitous juxtaposition of CDs on the shelf then.
I thought it would be too coincidental to be the case.
Btw: it was you who alerted me to one or both of the Hyperion Stravinsky/Britten piano and orchestra CDs, so thanks again for that!

[Bryn]

Just a serendipitous juxtaposition of CDs on the shelf then.
I thought it would be too coincidental to be the case.
Btw: it was you who alerted me to one or both of the Hyperion Stravinsky/Britten piano and orchestra CDs, so thanks again for that!

Unfortunately, the iPlayer facility did not start as a public access platform until Christmas Day 2007 (with convenient thrid party download solutions of the then 192kbps mp3 iPlayer files coming rather later). Still, the mainly 192kbps DAB mp2s saved via my Pure Bug are considerably bettter than nothing, roughly on a par with YouTube's 128kbps aac.

[Barbirollians]

Not a work I find easy like much of Stravinsky's output with choral forces. Will try again - have the Fasiolis,