Stravinsky Suita Italian

BIS is justifiably proud of its audiophile reputation, and this disc offers ample evidence of the label's recording prowess. The same goes for the virtuosity of the Swedish Radio Choir and Orchestra. Although neither performance ranks as the best on disc, together these two great works and these solid, committed interpretations make a tremendously satisfying program–robust, intense, sensuous, and sonically stunning.

Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin was born on March 6, 1914, in Russia. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1936, and worked as conductor at the Maly Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Leningrad from 1936-1943. He moved to Moscow in 1943 and worked as the conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre for 16 years. In 1960 Kondrashin was appointed the Artistic Director of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted the premiere of the Symphony No. 13 "Baby Yar" by Dmitri Shostakovich and Yevgeniy Yevtushenko in 1961. He left the Soviet Union in 1975 and took a post of principal conductor of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1979. Kondrashin is known for his numerous recordings of the music of Soviet composers for Melodiya label during the 60's and 70's.

BIS is justifiably proud of its audiophile reputation, and this disc offers ample evidence of the label's recording prowess. The same goes for the virtuosity of the Swedish Radio Choir and Orchestra. Although neither performance ranks as the best on disc, together these two great works and these solid, committed interpretations make a tremendously satisfying program–robust, intense, sensuous, and sonically stunning.

Klaus Mäkelä's auspicious first release as Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris featuring two iconic works of the 20th century, opening a series of recordings of music written for the Ballet Russes, showcasing the unique sonority of this great orchestra.

This is the "Masterworks Expanded Edition" of Leonard Bernstein's Quadrophonic 1972 London Symphony Orchestra recording of Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps. It was Bernstein's second go at the work in the studio, the first being made at the tail end of the mono era in January 1958 with the New York Philharmonic. CBS was very heavily into "Quad," and this justified a second recording of Bernstein in Le Sacre du printemps in order to show off the boom and bang of the new system. Whereas the 1972 Sacre is definitely exciting in spots and is a wildly colorful performance, it is also inconsistent in tempo, orchestral balance, and intonation.

This is the "Masterworks Expanded Edition" of Leonard Bernstein's Quadrophonic 1972 London Symphony Orchestra recording of Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps. It was Bernstein's second go at the work in the studio, the first being made at the tail end of the mono era in January 1958 with the New York Philharmonic. CBS was very heavily into "Quad," and this justified a second recording of Bernstein in Le Sacre du printemps in order to show off the boom and bang of the new system. Whereas the 1972 Sacre is definitely exciting in spots and is a wildly colorful performance, it is also inconsistent in tempo, orchestral balance, and intonation.

Deeply scarred by the First World War and by the upheavals of the October Revolution in his homeland, Stravinsky found, with the help of the Swiss author Ramuz, a subject that resonated perfectly with his era. In this music theatre piece inspired by an old Russian folktale, The Deserter and the Devil, the composer of The Rite of Spring explored new paths in the last months of the First World War, which would soon lead him to a very personal form of neo-classicism.