"Antal Dorati recorded Le Sacre several times during his long career, but this recording, originally released as Mercury SR 90253, is the grandaddy of them all. In this performance, unlike all the others, the real savagery of the music comes through with primal force. The dynamism of the performance is irresistable, and one is swept away by it. Dorati's tempi are FAST: this is not a "thinking man's Sacre" at all. You will hear more inner details in performances by Boulez, for instance, but not the fire, not the pure irresistable energy of this one. The orchestral sound is sharply focused - a stunning model of the engineer's art with TWO microphones stratigically placed! If you want the greatest recorded performance of Le Sacre, this is it.Petrouchka is given a similarly rousing performance - but it is the 1947 version Stravinsky devised to thwart his then expired copyrights. Going through this performance with a score, but hearing altogether different things because of the changes (mainly reduction and instrumental redistribution) is disturbing. The original is ALWAYS to be preferred - copyrights notwithstanding. Nevertheless, the performance is every bit as spectacular as Le Sacre, even if it's the "wrong version" of the piece. The Four Etudes could not make for a greater contrast to the two big ballet scores. Stravinsky in his cubist mode is always fascinating, and Dorati catches exactly the irony of this music."
It'll Knock your Socks off!
Avrohom Leichtling | 02/14/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In retrospect, and taking into consideration the many fine recordings he made for Wilma Cozart Fine and her superlative Mercury recording team, Antal Dorati must rank as one of the greatest conductors of the Twentieth Century. His recordings with Byron Janis of the Rachmaninoff 2nd and 3rd Concerti, his magnificent disc of Dvorak's 7th and 8th Symphonies, his delectable version of Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances, and so many more, are a towering achievement. And this disc belongs in that exalted company. The Petrouchka is delightful; but it is the amazing performance of The Rite of Spring that elevates this recording to classic status. Conducting what could only be described as a "provincial" orchestra, under his baton their playing achieves, individually and en masse, the height of virtuosity. There is some background hiss-- but to be honest I can't say it lasts for more than a second or two, because the playing is so compelling such things are totally out of one's consciousness almost immediately. Dorati's vision is: powerful, exciting, barbaric, amazing. The music seizes you and carries you along irresistibly. I have several friends who all had other versions of The Rite which they felt were "the Best" and were prepared to argue it; but when I played them this version they rushed out, each of them, to get a copy. Even if you've not been a big fan of this piece, this version is so compelling you can't stop listening. Give it a spin, and you'll see what I mean. And -- as an added bonus-- it's available at lower-than-premium prices. I can't recommend it too highly!"
"Antal Dorati can boast of being one of the most idiomatic and superb conductor in Stravinsky in any age. His name must figure at the same level that Ansermet, Fricsay, Monteux, Markevitch, Tilson Thomas.
His ability to recreate atmospheres is unique. Let 's admit that to beat Ansermet with Petrouchka is a very hard task but Dorati resolves the score from a different perspective, giving it a turn of page; he gives a major martial emphasis to First Scene and eludes the dreamlike approach of Ansermet to place it an evanescent and elusive atmosphere pregnant of boiling tension and high doses of dissonant chords, cynical environment, a macabre pantomime and percussive accent searching a conception that oscillates between Prokoviev 's acidity and Bartok 's anguish.
The result is brilliant, making Stravinsky works out as the perfect link between the Apollonian expression and the collective unconscious; mercurial and wild; merciless and incisive. I don' t think you can find easily such approach in these modern times. There were a true kaleidoscopic collection of wounds without healing around the world: winners and losers struggled by the hopeless and collective fear found in this music a perfect cathartic device.
If this Petrouchka version may be considered the second choice after Ansermet, Le Sacre shares honors with the most acclaimed performances ever recorded ever. His approach is fierce, rustic, rude and primitive. Dorati goes directly to the essential mythical root of the score.
But the percussionists of this notable orchestra deserve all the possible acknowledgements, they are superb. Supported by a inspired orchestra in which the winds, metals ands woods reach the peak. It is absolutely impossible to describe the astonishing wholeness of the recording. From the first bars Dorati mesmerizes us and literally plunges the listener in prehistoric mood. The Orchestra 's tuttis and sforzandos are of first rate.
If you are searching for a cryptic, rough and robust reading of this score go for this record as soon as you can.
You will experience a true imaginative journey to our antipodes.
"
Mark McCue limebomb@hotmail.com
Hiram Gomez Pardo | 05/12/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Wowza! Of course, since you already have Dorati's superlative Detroit recordings of these, you might as well have these two again in his earlier, equally superlative but somewhat different Minneapolis recordings.The differences are mainly in tempo, the relative qualities of the orchestras, the recording techniques. Both disks pack a wallop. Sometimes you'll like one, sometimes the other--a little fickleness is good when dealing with conducting on this level: you get to split hairs once in awhile!Wilma Cozart's sound is equal to Dorati: comparing the original edition LPs to this disk seems to indicate she pretty much left well-enough alone."
Dorati the leader
E. Philpott-Kent | Norwich, England | 08/23/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Way back before you were born I owned several versions of Sacre. They were all disappointing - even Stravinsky's own (in fact I don't really believe he could have been there when it was made). I used to complain bitterly at my record shop (no CDs then!) that no one seemed to have grasped what it was about -- they were too timid to a man.
Then one day in 1963 I walked in to the shop and an assistant called me over. 'Listen to this -- it's just come in.' It was Antal Dorati and the Minneapolis SO doing The Rite of Spring. I was bowled over, and I still feel the same way. No one has bettered this version for sheer drama. (Though in point of fact they came close in a BBC Prom last year; but I doubt that will ever hit the streets.) For sheer bravura and clarity this and the piano version lead the crowd. Listen to it before you say another word on the subject.
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
