Our Summer BAL 67: Stravinsky Symphony in three movements

[Barbirollians]

CBSO/Rattle is very fine

[rauschwerk]

The paucity of responses on this thread suggests either that boarders don't find this piece very interesting (which I don't believe), or that many of the listed recordings are very fine.

I'm no conductor, but I wonder if this piece is actually reasonably easy to bring off? I don't remember having heard a bad recording or performance. Perhaps if one does what it says on the tin, and attends to matters such as balance and articulation, a good performance results?

I began in my teens with Silvestri (illegally taped) and became addicted. Later on I bought IS's recording, but when it came to choosing a CD I didn't see why I should put up with that duff last chord. BPO/Rattle is very satisfying as far as I am concerned, though I also have LSO/MTT.

[silvestrione]

The paucity of responses on this thread suggests either that boarders don't find this piece very interesting (which I don't believe), or that many of the listed recordings are very fine.

I'm no conductor, but I wonder if this piece is actually reasonably easy to bring off? I don't remember having heard a bad recording or performance. Perhaps if one does what it says on the tin, and attends to matters such as balance and articulation, a good performance results?

I began in my teens with Silvestri (illegally taped) and became addicted. Later on I bought IS's recording, but when it came to choosing a CD I didn't see why I should put up with that duff last chord. BPO/Rattle is very satisfying as far as I am concerned, though I also have LSO/MTT.

I listened to the Silvestri, which has marvellous clarity as a recording and superb playing, but I found it too brash. Rattle/BPO I enjoyed mightily, although some might think it too far the other way. Is this one of S's masterpieces? I think it does not match up to the Symphony of Psalms or the Symphony in C, to choose just two examples.

[HighlandDougie]

The Rattle/LSO Prom has set me off on one of my occasional obsessions with this work (as also with the Symphony in C). I've been trawling through the recordings which grace my shelves, trying, vainly I suspect, to find what would be my BaL choice for this wonderful work. Apart from MTT/LSO, which really is very good, I've been impressed with Bernstein ('Lenny' is just a bit too Edward Seckerson) and the Israel PO - and, as Jayne mentioned elsewhere, there is Ilan Volkov's BBC MM version. I've discovered the later Colin Davis (with the Bavarian RSO), but haven't got round to listening to it yet. And, of course, IS himself. Plus Ansermet, Boulez (a bit too cool maybe), the LSO Davis, Gielen, Rattle - too many versions, too much choice. Any new views since the thread was first introduced?

[silvestrione]

I'm rather surprised to see someone above suggesting the Symphony in Three Movements is not the equal of the Symphony in C. I might go the other way.

[Bryn]

I'm rather surprised to see someone above suggesting the Symphony in Three Movements is not the equal of the Symphony in C. I might go the other way.

I think it's a bit like comparing apples and oranges. They are very different works composed in rather different circumstances. My first love was for the Symphony in Three Movements but I got to know it some years before the Symphony in C (and Symphony of Psalms), to which I was also immediately attracted in their different ways.

[silvestrione]

I think it's a bit like comparing apples and oranges. They are very different works composed in rather different circumstances. My first love was for the Symphony in Three Movements but I got to know it some years before the Symphony in C (and Symphony of Psalms), to which I was also immediately attracted in their different ways.