With spring almost upon us it’s time to give a listen to one of the greatest musical works of the 20th century - Stravinsky’s La Sacre du Printemps/The Rite of Spring. What are your favorite recordings of this seminal work? Below are two of mine, with the second one being quite different from the first.
The all analog vinyl, which is also available in digital form on Tidal and Qobuz.
I’m not a heavy Classical listener and I could never get into Stravinsky. Then I discovered a recording of The Firebird by Eiji Oue and the Minnesota (Symphony) Orchestra and “got it”.
There’s also a performance of The Rite of Spring on that CD; will have to give it a listen. I can’t remember if I found that accessible or not.
To be honest I did love the version in Disneys Fantasia to, not sure who recorded that one. But its what introduced me to classical music and stirred my interest. I am not a huge classical listener and only this year started to explore more about it.
That would be Leopold Stokowski & The Philadelphia Orchestra somewhere around 1940. Although it is not a complete version since it runs about 22 minutes and most complete versions run about 35 minutes
Would also tend to recommend Bernstein´s version with the LSO as a favorite if you see it from theatrical point of view. A more modern recording with a similar approach yet even more drama and dynamic:
As an alternative I could offer a more symphonic reading which I like for its rhythmic precision as well as its uncalculatable dynamic ideas and really beautiful ´impressionistic passages´. It is surely less adrenaline-laden or spectacularly noisy from audiophile point of view, but this transparency is exactly what I like:
