For its French millennial collection (released in 2005, oddly enough), Deutsche Grammophon has pulled from the vaults three vintage recordings of works by Igor Stravinsky, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas and Charles Dutoit, comparatively early in their careers. Tilson Thomas' performances of Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) and King of the Stars (also known as Zvezdoliki, or "Star-face") date to 1972, while Dutoit's session for Petrushka is from 1976; all were analog recordings, but they have been digitally remastered without a trace of tape hiss. It's hard to fault Tilson Thomas and the Boston Symphony Orchestra for more than the slightest missteps in Le Sacre, which is the most exciting performance of the disc: the playing is subtly shaded as well as blunt and brutal, and the music shimmers with myriad details that are often lost in other recordings. This attack or that entrance may not be precise, but the music on the whole feels incredibly alive and arrestingly violent, especially in the pounding rhythms of the "Glorification de l'Elue" and the murderously hard "Danse sacrale," so minor errors are easy to forgive. The performance of King of the Stars is somewhat less spellbinding, due to the music's subdued quality and brevity, but this evocative cantata for men's voices and orchestra is a little gem that more listeners should hear, especially in atmospheric performances such as this one. Dutoit's reading of Petrushka with theLondon Symphony Orchestra is a respectable effort, but there are many points where either close-up microphone placement or later mixing decisions made the recording sound boosted and artificially highlighted. Such obvious engineering is a distraction from the music, and there are many less polished recordings that are more enjoyable. Still, Dutoit and the LSO give the score a satisfying interpretation, strongly emphasizing the work's puppet theater aspects, so this performance is musically worthwhile, if not exactly realistic in reproduction.
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