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| Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms; Symphony in Three Movements | 
 enlarge | Creators: Igor Stravinsky, Pierre Boulez, Berliner Philharmoniker
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (13 reviews)
Sales Rank: 14986
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 457616
UPC: 028945761626
EAN: 0028945761626
ASIN: B000031X7Y
Release Date: February 8, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Herreweghe in Boulez-disguise September 7, 2003
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
First of all:
The Berliner philharmoniker play precise and with attack.
Never mind those comments people often make, as if Von Karajan never died.
The symphony in three movements here on disc is next to Stravinsky's own recording probably the best available.
It comes closer to Stravinsky's own view than any other I heard, except the andante is played slower by Boulez and I actualy like it better that way: extremely gentle and refined.
Stravinsky himself didn't care that much for highlighting the gentle sites in his music scores, therefore many recordings of the firebird for instance top his own recording, like (ofcourse) Boulez', Dorati's and Gergiev's.
The symphonies of wind instruments is given a melancholic feel wich I never heard in this work.
Boulez the iceman?
But to be perfectly honest, this work will never become one of my favorites.
Still one of the best performances I heard
Another great recording is from Reinbert de Leeuw
The symphony of psalms is a rather strange work to my ears.
Extremely beautiful passages with some honest devotion are followed by kitschy Carl Orf-like passages which gives me the feeling at times that this work was originally written as a movie score and not the symphony in three movements.
The performance however is great.
If I didn't know Boulez was the conductor I would have thought it was Herreweghe himself, such a warmth and intimacy and that mystique-like quality.
Yes perhaps this performance doesn't come so close to Stravinsky's ideal and perhaps some pinsharp orchestral focussing is traded for smooth and warm legato. But it works very well, as it works perfectly well for Herreweghe in his Bach recordings.
There you have it: a great disc of probably the best conductor alive.
Brilliant Colors Compensate for Strangely Rushed Psalm Coda July 23, 2002
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
To get the unpleasant news out of the way first ... the Symphony of Psalms is generally quite good, but is far from the best. There are runaway crescendos in which the full ensemble gets shriek-ey to a degree which is, actually, shocking for Boulez, who normally (witness the two instrumental selections on the disc) shows such refined sensitivity to Stravinsky's use of color.But the strangest offense which Boulez here commits against Stravinsky is, the Signature Moment of the Symphony of Psalms, the wonderful coda to the third movement, one of Stravinsky's trademark Codas of Eternal Stillness, which floats off and melds into Time Itself. Unforgiveably, Boulez rushes this. Compounding the offense is the fact that this is billed as the 1948 revision of the Symphony of Psalms, a revision which primarily consisted in Stravinsky specifying refined tempos - and Stravinsky gives a tempo for the coda of 72 quarter-notes to the minute, where Boulez races through at more than twice this rate. Since this tempo specification is, you might say, the whole raison-d'etre for the revision, Boulez missing this - a change which Eric Walter White, with somewhat amusing understatement, remarks "affects the speed of the coda" - is puzzling ... for he is a composer/conductor famed for his close reading of the score .... But an overwhelming, thrice-welcome virtue which pervades this entire disc, is the vibrant colors, the faithfulness to Stravinsky's miraculous chords, so exquisitely voiced. Boulez here offers the original 1920 version of the Symphonies of Wind Instruments, which is really the only way to hear the piece: in later versions, Stravinsky made the ill-advised decision to remove the alto flute and alto clarinet (one passage, in particular, he had to re-compose, to accommodate the range of the regular flute), but these two `unusual' instruments are brilliant components in a number of delicately-scored passages (including just these two in duet) where, frankly, in later versions they are sore missed. I was especially pleased that the high clarinet motto which opens the Symphonies (and returns throughout the work) began so delicately ... it is a passage which can too easily be made shrill, and tire the ear - and while Stravinsky was a tireless seeker after striking colors, he did not aim to tire the ear. This is one reason why, for me, the piece succeeds so much more easily in a performance space, rather than reproduced from a recording; in a concert hall, the ear has more "breathing room", and this recurring high clarinet does not necessarily grow wearisome. But all of Stravinsky's rich chords shimmer, hum, burr - especially, as we expect, the wonderful chorale which closes out the piece. This piece alone makes this disc a joy to listen to. Could almost say that the release of the last chord is alone worth the price of admission, only it would seem like fanaticism ....
Some of the best performances of these pieces June 6, 2002
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
Before listening to this recording, I never really liked the Symphonies of Wind Instruments. I had heard several different performances of it, and never realized how expressive and beautiful the piece really is until I heard Boulez's version. I was quite excited by the subtle beauty that Boulez and the BPO wrench from the score...anyway that was my first impression of this disc.As for the Symphony of Psalms, I was always partial to Stravinsky's own recording with the Toronto Festival Singers and the CBC symphony, but I have come to decide that the chorus on that recording is too small...plus Stravinsky was not the best of choral conductors. The sound of Boulez's BPO and the Berlin Radio Chorus gives the Symphony of Psalms a much richer feel. It sounds more like a Symphony, whereas Stravinsky's take feels almost like a chamber work. I personally prefer Boulez, but this may be a matter of taste. I am not familiar with enough recordings of the Symphony in Three Movements to judge it fairly, however, I do believe that this is one of the best Stravinsky CD's I own (and I own quite a large number of Stravinsky CD's).
Between Objectivity and Passion March 20, 2001
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
I don't pretend to have a thorough knowledge of the discography of Igor Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms (1930), written on commission by Serge Koussevitsky for the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I know the composer's stereo performance on Columbia, Igor Markevitch's on Philips, Neville Marriner's on London, and two or three others. Stravinsky's recording must be taken as authoritative, although I have always thought that Stravinsky was too austere in his self-interpertation. Markevitch, who uses Russian forces (recorded in the 1960s), is good. British performances miss the mark because the choristers sing too sweetly. It's the opposite interpretive sin from the composer's own. The recent DG disc with Pierre Boulez leading the Berlin Philharmonic and the Berlin Radio Chorus strikes me (based on my limited survey) as the best ever. I confess to having approached this disc with trepidation. Of Boulez the critics sometimes with justice say, "the Iceman cometh." But the champion of musical modernism, who lately has turned his hand to Mahler and (hard to believe) Bruckner, delivers a performance that does not sacrifice vitality to objectivity. Objective it is; no one, on hearing this, would mistake it for a devotional performance. But Stravinsky's passionless delivery is here redeemed by his interpreter's discovery that while the form of the Symphony comes from Bach its harmonies come from Debussy and that they have a life and a warmth (even) all their own. The major coupling is the Symphony in Three Movements. Eduardo Mata made a recording twenty years ago for RCA that still takes the laurels in this repertory, but Boulez reaches nearly the same level. The outer movements invoke the rhythmic pandemonium of "The Rite of Spring." The horns really whoop it up in the Third Movement. The central panel is relaxed in a balletically muscular way: Certain moments possess what might be called poignancy. (Aaron Copland must have listened attentively to this score.) The minor coupling is the plurally entitled "Symphonies of Wind Instruments" (1922). This is the source of the writing for winds in the Symphony of Psalms. Boulez makes it very ritualistic and brings out its relation to the music that another modernist, Edgar Varese, was composing, in New York, at about the same time. Did Karajan record these works with the BPO? Probably, but I have never heard the results. As Boulez mellows into his seniority, his music-making becomes more attractive, warmer, more plastic and attractive. It's a superior item. Recommended.
 Surprisingly dull! April 12, 2000
2 out of 12 found this review helpful
Not up to the other Boulez/Stravinsky releases. Pedestrian performances of the SYMPHONY OF PSALMS (Chailly much better for this). For the Symphony in Three Movements stick with Colin Davis/Bayrische Rundfund. Also, what's up with DGG's recorded sound on this release? Muddy, lacking in detail.
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