Drap Acid

This is an excellent version of the complete score to Prokofiev's still somewhat neglected early ballet Chout. Michail Jurowski and the WDR Sinfonie Orchester Köln present the score in stunning sound, all sorts of detail emerging with excellent orchestral balances, the whole yielding a generally gracious and somewhat Romantic account of this colorful work. The individual orchestra members play their solos especially well and not always in a conventional manner: in the opening cue, the clarinetist mesmerizes the ear with his beguiling upward slides, making the music tarter and a bit sassy. The brass play with spirit, too: in the closing number, "Le marchand s'eloigne," the tuba growls and howls as the strings and other brass turn frenzied, the whole sounding deliciously wanton and thoroughly exciting.