Gustav Holst Recommended Works

Richard Hickox and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales recently released a CD of Orchestral Works by Gustav Holst on Chandos Records. Included are The Perfect Fool, The Golden Goose, The Lure and The Morning of the Year. These works are ballet suites and music recorded by Hickox before he past away late last year. Those of you familiar with The Planets will find a lot to like here yet will hear a different side of Holst. These works are not recorded too often, and only recently has the recordings of some of these works from the 1970's been re-released on Lyrita. The performances are stellar, the sound quality is excellent, and these recordings beat any of the currently available versions. An MP3 version is also at Amazon's aStore.

The Planets is a suite in seven parts, each named for a planet in our solar system. Earth is not named, and Pluto had not been discovered at the time Planets was composed. This recording by Karajan and the Berliner Philharmonic is a great performance and has demonstration-class sound. MP3 Version also available.

Naxos has a nicely performed CD of various other Holst works such as Beni Mora and Somerset Rhapsody. Some good British music with nice playing and sound. MP3 Version also available.



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Bela Bartok Recommended Works

Bartok's best works are the Concerto For Orchestra, Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta, and The Miraculous Mandarin Suite. His works reflect a modern style of composition, but are filled with a wonderful tapestry of sounds and melodies.

Reiner and the Chicago Symphony have the most basic of performances from which others are judged, and the remastering of these old recordings is just great. The Concerto, Music for Strings, and Hungarian Sketches make up this Living Stereo release, and is the perfect place to start your Bartok collection. Also available as an MP3 Album.



Boulez with the Chicago Symphony features newer digital recordings of all of Bartok's major works. The Miraculous Mandarin and Music for Strings is an excellent CD, and even with the duplication of a Reiner performance, Boulez has something different to say about Celesta, so still a nice recording to have in your collection. Also on MP3 Album. Boulez also recorded other Bartok works such as Divertimento and Dance Suite in another DG set that combines these works in a well-performed package. MP3 Album version

Anda, Fricsay and the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin may not be household names, but they give a searing account of Bartok's Three Piano Concertos on DG. Released on DG 'The Originals' this is another basic performance that others are compared. The sound is decent and the playing gets right down to the essence of these very powerful concertos. Also on MP3 Album.

Antonio Vivaldi Recommended Works

Vivaldi's most famous work is the 'Four Seasons' or 'Le quattro stagiono', four concertos from his Op. 8 Violin Concertos. There are dozens of recordings available and here are a few of my favorites.

On original instruments, Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert give the definitive performance on Archiv. The recording is from 1982 and has been remastered with a few additional works. Highly recommended, also comes in an MP3 Version.

Abbado and the London SO with soloist Gidon Kremer give a great performance on modern instruments. A bit smoother sound but great none the less and comes in an MP3 Version.

Nils-Erik Sparf and Drottingham Baroque Ensemble have a spectacular sounding recording on BIS. The sound is crystal clear, and the playing is excellent, the only downside is that it is only available for download as an MP3 Album.

The 'Four Seasons' is actually the first 4 concertos in a set of 12 works also known as 'The Contest between Harmony and Invention'. Kraemer and the Raglan Baroque Players with soloist Monica Huggett on Virgin Veritas have a bargain set from 2000. The 2 CD set is bargain priced, and the MP3 Album even cheaper. It is a very nice recording, and includes the 'Seasons' along with the other Op. 8 Concertos, along with 2 other concertos.



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Igor Stravinsky Recommended Works

The works that make up the essential Stravinsky collection are 'The Rite of Spring', 'Petrouska' and 'Firebird'. Stravinsky made concert suites of his music and also updated a lot of his works in 1946-47 due to some copyright issues, so there are several versions of the various works and things can get confusing to say the least. Since most of the recordings below contain two or more of these works they are summarized at the end.

As a sidenote, Sony has a Masterworks podcast that it produces on and off, and they had a fascinating series on some of the Stravinsky recording sessions from 1961. You can access the podcast thru iTunes, and you are looking for the episodes from 2007 with Stravinsky in the title, or go to Sony Masterworks Podcast to visit the website and listen.


The Firebird
The ballet music for Firebird comes in the following versions: 1910 Original Ballet, 1911 Concert Suite, 1919 Concert Suite and the 1945 Concert Suite. To make things simple, the 1919 Suite is the most popular and contains selections from Firebird. The 1945 Suite has all the music from the 1911 and 1919 Suites and contains almost all of the music from the 1910 version but without the interludes. The 1945 is the one Stravinsky himself recorded in the 1960's. The 1910 and 1945 are interchangeable since they have about the same music, and the 1919 is a great selection of the best parts.

The Bernstein has the 1919 Suite with 'Rite' while Rattle conducts the 1910 Original in his 2CD bargain set. Gergiev and the St. Petersburg Kirov Orchestra however gets the nod for the best all out recording of the 1910 Original and comes with a great work by Scriabin.
Stravinsky recorded a lot of his works in the 1960's for CBS and Stravinsky Conducts: Firebird features the 1945 Suite along with other works. There is also a 22CD set of everything Stravinsky conducted for Columbia, and is in a bargain box set available used. Do note the reviews about the documentation in the set being skimpy, but still a great value.



Rite of Spring [Le Sacre du Printemps] / Petrushka
Once again there is more than one version of Petrushka, and many of the recordings are paired with 'The Rite of Spring'. The main difference is in the orchestration, the 1947 version is for a smaller ensemble.
The 1911 original version by Monteux, who conducted the premiere of the work in 1911, is an RCA recording classic from 1959 and the sound quality is remarkable for its age. There are two releases of the same recording, with 'The Rite of Spring' [a 1951 mono recording], or on the RCA Living Stereo release with Franck's 'Symphony in D' [THE recording to get of Franck's work], so choose your coupling.
Boulez with the Cleveland Orch. has two recordings of 'Petrushka' and 'Rite', one from 1969 on Sony and his digital remake from 1992 on DG. While the DG recording has the upper hand with superior sonics, for the best performance, the CBS era recording is really the way to go, and comes with the best version of 'The Rite of Spring' too.
If you prefer to get the 1947 Version of Petrushka, you have a choice between Stravinsky's recording, or the excellent one by Bernstein with 'Pulcinella'.
Ozawa with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras has a excellent recording of 'Rite' and 'Petrushka [1947] ' on the BMG High Performance label.

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