Post Description

Dorati here completes the trilogy of early Stravinsky ballet scores in his new recordings with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (Petrushka-SXDL7521, 10/81; The Rite of Spring-SXDL7548, 2/82), again with sound of exceptional fullness, clarity and precision. It is not long since ASV reissued his 1977 version with the RPO, and the vividness of sound on that is still most impressive. But with more space round the players-particularly the woodwind soloists-the new Decca has almost every advantage. Only the leader when playing solo tends to get spotlit, and repeatedly one marvels that textures can be made so clear yet well co-ordinated too. The clarity and definition of dark, hushed passages is amazing, for example, with the contra bassoon finely focused, never sounding woolly or obscure, and with string tremolos down to the merest whisper uncannily precise.

Precision is a quality of the performance too, when comparing it with Dorati's RPO version. His view of the work has changed little. The obvious contrast is that where the RPO has more individuality in the solo work, the Detroit orchestra is a degree better drilled. Not that that is a complete advantage, for in Kastchei's Dance the tempo is now marginally slower, and the precision has just a hint of cautiousness in it. There is more fire in the Firebird in an even earlier Dorati performance on Mercury with the LSO (reissued on SRI75058, 4/82), and the two Philips versions listed above both bring playing a degree more refined than that of the Detroiters. But few will be disappointed with the new issue, when the sound is so spectacular and the performance in its own right a strong and brilliant one, which tells the story of the ballet more graphically than most in the sharply dramatic style typical of Dorati.