Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps: 100th Anniversary

I almost couldn't believe this package of discs was released. And I couldn't wait to get hold of it. Yes, you have to be a fan of the Stravinksy masterpiece Le Sacre du Printemps, but that's a small price to pay for such an astounding set of music discs. If you value classical music, you already realize the glories of comparative listening -- measuring one conductor's/orchestra's vision of a piece against others'. This splendid and reasonably priced box set will allow you to compare to your heart's (or ... ears') content 38 versions of this once scandalous ballet. There ought to be something for everybody here. Even if you have a couple copies of the Rite already in your collection, you probably don't have 38. And to have 38 quickly accessible? Hey, why are you still reading this. If you love the Rite, get this package, now. Start listening. You will not regret it.Dance on ... to the rhythms of the earth.

Nice package, nice music!

38 version of Rite of Spring and 1 version of Violin Concerto in D major. I appreciate the effort for the collect so many rite of spring but I have to point out most CDs are not in good condition. The performance of the conductor and orchestra did not meet my anticipate and also too much background noise in the early recordings. Personally I feel the version by Lenard Bernstein and Karajan during 1970s are the best, However, even for these two versions I still feel the last chapter （II- VI sacrificial dance) fell into chaos under with A1+DT990. I have a digital recording from internet and I feel this one is better controlled in music.

This collection is a great blessing. There's nothing of a "missed opportunity" about it. Criticisms are wide of the mark. The price is necessarily high and this is unavoidable given the ambitions and costs of research involved in the venture. If your pocketbook is under seige, divvy up with pals or appeal to your city library. The sonics are superb and people who grumble about them are simply calling attention to themselves out of vanity.If you can overcome the price tag (with a little help from your pals) the great revelation is not only the different worlds of interpretation, but how your first choice of performance turns out to be a drastic surprise. My preference is always for a performance that adheres to the theme of a savage sacrifice of innocents, and of all people I found my palm going to Fricsay in a 1954 performance! In my youth, this conductor was one "settled for" on budget LP labels and I would've dismissed him out of hand, but here his performance has no rivals.The rewards of comparison are endless. Most of the "big name" conductors cannot rise above the classical-music-suave genteel renditions, the Martha Argerich syndrome if you will, and it's a thrill to track down the few who can "go native". I've mentioned Fricsay in 1954, who crashes into the jungle, and then there's Zubin Mehta in an electrifying 1969 performance that terrifies, with Tilson Thomas not far behind. There's no point is listing my favorites for they're all subjective & will vary from individual to individual, but the point is whatever your criterion (mine is the savagery contained in Stravinsky's title) the thrill is the UNPREDICTABILITY OF YOUR FINAL CHOICES. Other reviewers have identified the various conductors in the album and many of the conductors I predicted would be front runners disappointed me terribly (Abbado, Dutoit, von Karajan, Clin Davis, Solti, Chailly, Boulez, Ansermet, Dorati, and especially Monteux!) but the point is not which conductors fell by the wayside for me, but THE BUILT-IN GURANTEE OF UNPREDICTABILITY OF THE CONDUCTORS WHO WILL EXCITE YOU! I can't think of a more absorbing way to spend time with conductors who'll knock you off your pins as they do or don't measure up to your idea of what this music should express. Not to mention the broadening of horizons concerning the range of conductor's interpretations.Initial price is the only limiting factor here. If you can indulge yourself or if a birthday's coming up, this album is knock out and the experience one of a kind.

Good companion to S. Neff's excellent book.

Except for the bonus Cd containing a traversal of the Violin Concerto, played by its dedicatee, Samuel Dushkin, with Stravinsky at the podium of the Lamoureux Concert Orchestra in 1935, this huge set contains 38 recordings of Stravinsky's seminal work, but not a single one conducted by the composer himself. Nor is this the only serious omission.As detailed below, the set contains a wealth of interpretations across several decades, from many conductors and musicians, leading ensembles from around the world, and offering a variety of different versions of the score:Eduard van Beinum, Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, [1921 version; recorded in 1946]Ernest Ansermet, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande [1921 version; recorded in 1950]Ferenc Fricsay, RIAS Symphonie-Orchester Berlin [1947 version; recorded in 1954]Antal Dorati, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra [recorded in 1954]Ernest Ansermet, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande [1921 version; recorded in 1957]Rudolf Albert, Orchestre des cento soli [recorded in 1956]Pierre Monteux, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra [recorded in 1956]Antal Dorati, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra [1947 version; recorded in 1959]Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker [1947 version; recorded in 1963]Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra [recorded in 1963]Zubin Mehta, Los Angeles Philharmonic [recorded in 1969]Michael Tilson Thomas, Boston Symphony Orchestra [1947 version; recorded in 1972]Bernard Haitink, London Philharmonic Orchestra [recorded in 1973]Erich Leinsdorf, London Philharmonic Orchestra [1921 version; recorded in 1974]Lorin Maazel, Wiener Philharmoniker [1921 version; recorded in 1974]Sir Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra [recorded in 1974]Claudio Abbado, London Symphony Orchestra [1947 version; recorded in 1975]Colin Davis, Concertgebouw Orchestra [recorded in 1976]Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker [1947 version; recorded in 1977]Simon Rattle, National Youth Orchestra [1913 version; recorded in 1978]Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra [recorded in 1979]Antal Dorati, Detroit Symphony Orchestra [recorded in 1981]Leonard Bernstein, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra [1913 version; recorded in 1982]Charles Dutoit, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal [1921 version; recorded in 1984]Riccardo Chailly, The Cleveland Orchestra [1947 version; recorded in 1985]Pierre Boulez, The Cleveland Orchestra [1947 version; recorded in 1991]Sir Georg Solti, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra [recorded in 1991]James Levine, The MET Orchestra [1947 version; recorded in 1992]Vladimir Ashkenazy, Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester, Berlin [1947 version; recorded in 1994]Semyon Bychkov, Orchestre de Paris [recorded in 1995]Bernard Haitink, Berliner Philharmoniker [1947 version; recorded in 1995]Valery Gergiev , Kirov Orchestra, St Petersburg [1947 version; recorded in 1999]Esa-Pekka Salonen, Los Angeles Philharmonic [1947 version; recorded in 2006]Myung-Whun Chung , Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France [1947 version; recorded in 2007]Gustavo Dudamel, Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela [1947 version; recorded in 2010]Bracha Eden & Alexander Tamir [1913 version for two pianos; recorded in 1968]Guher & Suher Pekinel [1913 version for two pianos; recorded in 1983]Vladimir Ashkenazy & Andrei Gavrilov [1913 version for two pianos; recorded in 1990]What it lacks, for me, however, is any apparent reasoning behind what the compilers of this massive set have chosen to include and exclude, beyond what they were able to license at the time the set went into print.We are given three recordings of the 1913 version for two pianos, and two recordings each by Colin Davis and Sir Georg Solti, but only the last of three recordings by Bernstein, when Bernstein's 1958 NYP recording (about which the composer is reported to have exclaimed "Wow!") is not only currently unavailable except as an import from Italy, but also offers a much more interesting contrast to his late recording than the contrasting recordings by Davis or Solti offered in this set.Other duplications are easier to understand. Ansermet was a friend of the composer and Dorati always found something new in this score. It is also interesting to hear Karajan's second thoughts contrasted with the 1963 recording, which had elicited such scorn from the composer - he described one of the movements under Karajan's baton as proceeding under a "tempo di hoochie coochie".It is a pity that although the conductor who led the work's premiere is present, Pierre Monteux is not granted at least one more recording from earlier in his career, when he was a much younger and healthier man. Monteux and the composer both recorded the work in 1929, and Stokowski recorded a fine performance of the work for 78s in 1930. Sound is, of course, a limitation in all of these very early recordings, but it is hard to believe room was not found for at least one of them when so much room is found for recordings from the last 20 years, let alone three performances of the same edition for two pianos.In addition to these, where are any of the famous recordings by Igor Markevitch, Boulez's less-clinical recording of the work with the Orchestra of the ORTF in 1963, Ozawa's livelier recording from Chicago, etc., etc., etc.?Another significant omission is the celebrated paired recording of Stravinsky's pianola recording alongside Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic following the same tempi (which differ from the written score). The IMP/Carlton disc pairing the pianola and orchestral recordings, long out of print, was hailed far and wide as one of the most significant musical events of the year in which it appeared, and it continued to garner praise as long as it continued to remain in print.Granted that Decca could not obtain the rights to every Rite ever recorded, this presentation would not be so frustrating if the set did not contain so many recordings that it gives the false impression of being more representative of the work's recording history than it is.

tout est dans le titre... ce coffret regroupe quelques un des plus grands enregistrements de l'oeuvre qui créa le scandale il y a cent ans.

It goes without saying that Le Sacre/The Rite would have to be important to any prospective buyer of such a set, but since it's long held the reputation of being the seminal work of modern serious music, its potential audience should be considerable. This is a noble, if somewhat extreme enterprise, but what exactly does it offer?Even from a purely musical point of view, Le Sacre is such a hugely layered and multi-dimensional work that it's impossible for any one performance to capture everything it contains - indeed, as with any piece of such stature, different interpretations will offer radically different perspectives, and having so many to hand can only widen the view and deepen one's appreciation, particularly when they are of such variety and quality as here.Le Sacre was always an important item in the Decca catalogue, and the company spearheaded the introduction of new technology with demonstration-class recordings of its particularly demanding sonics no fewer than four times, with Ernest Ansermet's LP and stereo versions and Antal Dorati's, first as a digitally recorded LP, then as one of its earliest CDs. Decca adopted the practice of allowing their major-name conductors to explore repertoire beyond their normal horizon, and since Le Sacre is something of a trophy work, their releases of it burgeoned. Even were this purely a Decca-only enterprise, there'd be much to enjoy, but their association and amalgamation with other companies over the years means that recordings from the Mercury, DG, RCA, Philips and ASV stables also appear, giving the collection a galaxy of star conductors with orchestras from varying traditions. Several have a chance to give us their second thoughts, and one, Antal Dorati, has three goes (all particularly persuasive, despite marked changes over the years). The work's first conductor (Pierre Monteux) is represented and there are three versions of the piano four hands version, too: the loss of orchestral colour being balanced by an extra clarity of rhythmic and thematic presentation. Recording engineers and locations also play an important role in the story, with balances running the whole gamut from John Boyden's purist representation of the dynamics of an orchestra in a concert hall with a young Simon Rattle and the NYO for ASV, through Mercury's three mic set-up and the Decca 'christmas tree' to some rather artificial and 'fizzed-up' multi mic recordings - though the use of the technique on the recording of Bernard Haitink's very fine earlier version by Volker Straus for Philips proves just how effective it can be in the right hands.Most listeners who come to this set are already likely to have a favourite interpretation, though, as I've already hinted, no one performance can ever do the work complete justice, and, to be honest, there are a couple here which have never convinced me at all, although others regard them highly. It doesn't tell the whole story (most obviously, the composer's own recordings, made for other companies, are absent, though he does at least put in an appearance conducting his Violin Concerto on the bonus disc), but this box offers nevertheless a wide selection of versions, many of which in their day were the top recommendation, and all of which still have much to offer. There's something here for everyone, with even the lesser-known earlier versions thoroughly deserving their inclusion.At the dawn of the CD age, the price of this box would have bought you perhaps five or six versions of this notorious, glorious piece. Thirty eight, plus a bonus early recording of the Violin Concerto with its dedicatee, in sensible packaging and with a particularly informative booklet (and not to mention at a bargain price) would have seemed just a collector's dream back then. If the collection has aroused your interest and you're wondering whether it's worth investigating further, then the answer's a 'yes' as resounding as the work itself.

Io ci trovo assai poco da collezionare in questa raccolta di incisioni de "La sagra della primavera". Sono stato attirato dall'idea di trovare, oltre ad alcune storiche incisioni, anche un libretto accompagnatorio ricco di documenti inediti e non (per esempio fotografie storiche), ma nulla di tutto cio'. Normale scatola contenitrice dei cd, incisioni quasi tutte normalmente reperibili, libretto accompagnatorio deludente.

商品はいい状態で受け取りました。演奏内容は定着してる物ばかりで今更言うまでもないでしょう。コアな愛好家にとって絶好な企画商品です。他の作品でもこの様な物が幅広く出て欲しいです。

Attention c'est la version avec 4cds et non 20... Je me suis fait avoir en croyant qu'il n'y avait qu'un coffret pour les 100 ans.