# Stravinsky - favorite recordings



## science

I'm about to go on a Stravinsky binge. There are lots of his works that I've never heard - Les Noces, Dumbarton Oaks, and so on - and I'm also eager to pick up any very famous recordings even of works that I've heard a lot.

So what do you love? Recommend? Are there any recordings that you consider "classic" or "essential"? Any recent recordings that you feel are significant new contributions? 

Sell stuff to me. I'm buying. My wife's credit limit was just increased to some ungodly number I'm ashamed to report because it's more than I make in some years, but it's safe to say that if we decide to go out we'll do it in a blaze of commercial glory, and the Rite will be the soundtrack. And if we decide to stay, I'm going to have at least half a dozen new Stravinsky CDs on my shelves.


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## Air

This is one of my favorites:










It's Stravinsky conducting his own three symphonies! Once you hear the composer's rendition of the music you'll be bound to find a conductor like Bernstein excessive and uncontrolled. Stravinsky allows the listener to sit on the edge and puts everything in all the right places without ever going overboard.

Highlights for me here are the Symphony in Three Movements, which he pulls off with an almost Fritz Reiner-Bartok like intensity, and the Symphony of Psalms. The way Stravinsky conducts the Psalmensinfonie is less religious, more ritualistic - has an almost savage vibe about it. The double fugue in the second movement is handled ravishingly.


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## Manxfeeder

Thanks for starting the topic. Stravinsky hasn't clicked with me yet, but I've been trying. Maybe some of these suggestions will turn the key in my head.


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## kmisho

I know Pletnev gets some flack. I've heard a good dozen versions of the Firebird Suite over the years and my favorite version is Pletnev's.


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## kmisho

And if Stravinsky hasn't clicked with you yet, I recommend The Firebird, Petrouchka and Pulcinella.


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## Delicious Manager

I think you should bite the bullet and get this incredibly good value *22-CD set* of all the recordings Stravinsky made for CBS in the 1950s/1960s.


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## Manxfeeder

kmisho said:


> And if Stravinsky hasn't clicked with you yet, I recommend The Firebird, Petrouchka and Pulcinella.


Yeah, I do like those, also the Rite of Spring and the Symphony of Psalms. The neoclassical stuff doesn't do much for me, except for Histoire, and I'm trying to like the later pieces, like the Requiem Canticles. But they don't make my pulse race yet.


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## dmg

I do not have much in the way of Stravinsky, but I do enjoy this recording:


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## starthrower

I just happen to have a library copy of that Koch CD at the moment. I believe it's now out of print. Anyway, I love the Symphonies Of Wind Instruments, and Concerto For Piano And Wind.

I like Kent Nagano's Firebird on the Virgin label, and Boulez's Petrushka/Le Sacre Du Printemps on DG.


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## kmisho

Manxfeeder said:


> Yeah, I do like those, also the Rite of Spring and the Symphony of Psalms. The neoclassical stuff doesn't do much for me, except for Histoire, and I'm trying to like the later pieces, like the Requiem Canticles. But they don't make my pulse race yet.


The Rite of Spring is one of my favorite pieces of all time, but it is very dissonant.

The necoclassical stuff is hit and miss for me. Pulcinella has great energy and is distinctly Stravinskian. I'm also a big fan of the Symphony in C. Apollon Musagete has some very nice moments as well.


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## Sid James

Being into chamber music, I got this Australian Eloquence double disc release recently. The highlight is the full version, narrated in English, of _The Soldier's Tale_ with John Gielgud, Tom Courtenay and Ron Moody (as a very crafty devil!). A number of Stravinsky's other significant chamber works are on the set, including the _Octet for Winds_, as well as two excellent arrangements of larger scale chamber works by Schoenberg & Berg. The Boston Chamber Players do a great job, and the sound is also very good. (BTW science, I thought you were taking a break from collecting?)...


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## bassClef

My favourite Stravinsky CD:










I think I have just about all versions of the Rite of Spring but if you can find it, you can't beat the raw intensity of Bernstein's 1958 recording.


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## bassClef

Delicious Manager said:


> I think you should bite the bullet and get this incredibly good value *22-CD set* of all the recordings Stravinsky made for CBS in the 1950s/1960s.


You can't do much better than that if you want to delve deep into Stravinsky - amazing value.


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## Vaneyes

Four favorites.


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## Monte Verdi

Dorati's recording The Firebird on Living Presence is a masterpiece. The vinyl is quite rare and expensive and often used to test high end audio equipment. It's truly a classic. The recordings Stravinsky did for Columbia/Goddard Lieberson are also classic in nature, well recorded and Stravinsky at the helm performing it exactly how he wanted it!


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## StlukesguildOhio

Stravinsky is someone I had put on hold for some reason until over the past year when I began to delve deeper into his work. Certainly Bernstein's Rite is essential:










I found the Robert Craft recordings to be quite marvelous... and quite inexpensive being on Naxos:


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## StlukesguildOhio

Of course you might get a better bang for your buck with the box set. Robert Craft, it might be noted, was a friend and confident of Stravinsky with great insight into his work.










I agree that the Stravinsky box set on Sony conducted by the composer is an essential set and unbeatable value. Of course composers are not always the best interpreters or conductors of their own work. I would be certain to listen to alternative voices.

For _Les Noches_, by the way, I very much recommend this recording:


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## starthrower

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Of course you might get a better bang for your buck with the box set. Robert Craft, it might be noted, was a friend and confident of Stravinsky with great insight into his work.
> 
> I agree that the Stravinsky box set on Sony conducted by the composer is an essential set and unbeatable value. Of course composers are not always the best interpreters or conductors of their own work. I would be certain to listen to alternative voices.


I bought the single Naxos CD of Craft's Firebird/Petrushka and I didn't care for it. Especially the Firebird which didn't have any fire.

Boulez's DG recording is superior, imo. I think I'm going to take the plunge and get the Sony box.


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## bumtz

I highly recommend this CD of obscure pieces: *Orpheus Chamber Orchestra - Shadow Dances (Stravinsky Miniatures) (DG)*.










Performance and the sounds are just perfect.

I also second the Dutoit / Firebird on Decca, although this might be for sentimental reasons - this is the first classical music recording I listened to consciously as a teenager.


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## starthrower

I'll keep it in mind, thanks. Well I just ordered the Stravinsky Sony Box. I can't wait to get this sucker in the mail. It sounds great just listening to the samples!


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## elgar's ghost

I quite like the 2-disc Decca set called 'Chamber Works & Rarities' - it does a nice job of collating some of his 'off the beaten track' material such as Suites 1 & 2, 3 pieces for solo clarinet, Epitaphium and the concerto for 2 pianos alongside more familiar fare such as Dumbarton Oaks, Danses Concertantes and Soldier's Tale suite.


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## JSK

I recently acquired the 22-CD Stravinsky edition on Sony. By and large excellent, though not necessarily definitive, recordings. An incredible bargain!


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## lou

Mine just came in yesterday's mail.

This might take awhile...


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## bassClef

lou said:


> Mine just came in yesterday's mail.
> This might take awhile...


Enjoy  Best value available anywhere!


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## samurai

lou said:


> Mine just came in yesterday's mail.
> 
> This might take awhile...


@ lou, Just how many cds are there for you to listen to--WOW!


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## lou

samurai said:


> @ lou, Just how many cds are there for you to listen to--WOW!


22!

I'll probably have to listen in doses.

I love box sets though and as *bassClef* says, this IS a great value.

So far I've only listened to the Firebird. It sounded fantastic to my ears, better than any previous version I've heard.


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## samurai

@ lou, Enjoy yourself; looks like a great buy indeed! Did you purchase them thru Amazon?


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## itywltmt

lou said:


> 22!So far I've only listened to the Firebird. It sounded fantastic to my ears, better than any previous version I've heard.


As I've said many times in this and other related threads, this is a "work of love" that engulfed Stravinsky and Robert Craft for nearly 5 years when Stravinsky was *80 years old*. He had quite a bit of stamina!

I have owned many of these recordings individually - I owned the _Firebird _recording on vinyl, and I remember distinctly hearing Stravinsky turn the page of hgs score about 25 seconds before the "Infernal Dance". I own the CD version, and that clearly (or sadly) was cleaned up in re-mastering.

In the vinyl jacket notes, Stravinsky confesses Firebird was *the first piece he ever conducted in public*, for a Red Cross event in 1915, if I recall. It is, indeed, a great rendition, especially the coda and fanfare ending!

My next favourite in the series is his reading of *the three symphonies*, and especially the _Symphony of Psalms_ with the CBC Symphony and the choir led by Elmer Isler. To a comment before: I think those are if not definitive, clearly near-definitive!


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## starthrower

lou said:


> Mine just came in yesterday's mail.
> 
> This might take awhile...


My copy is on the way! In the meantime I picked up the late 60s Ozawa recording of Petrouchka/The Rite Of Spring recommended in another Stravinsky thread. Man! I'm loving this one!


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## lou

samurai said:


> @ lou, Enjoy yourself; looks like a great buy indeed! Did you purchase them thru Amazon?


Yes samurai, through a seller on Amazon I believe, although it qualified for free shipping under my Amazon Prime account. The price seems to hover around $31 to $35.


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## lou

itywltmt said:


> I have owned many of these recordings individually - I owned the _Firebird _recording on vinyl, and I remember distinctly hearing Stravinsky turn the page of hgs score about 25 seconds before the "Infernal Dance". I own the CD version, and that clearly (or sadly) was cleaned up in re-mastering.


That is indeed sad. I love hearing those little human "imperfections" in recordings. So much recorded music today is rendered almost sterile and unnecessarily so.


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## Itullian

the Sony set is all you need.


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