Igor Stravinsky; Sergei Rachmaninov; Claude Debussy - The Rite of Spring; etc. (Vasily Petrenko)

Information

Composer: Igor Stravinsky; Sergei Rachmaninov; Claude Debussy

• Debussy - Printemps
• Rachmaninov - Vesna, Op. 20
• Stravinsky - Le Sacre du printemps

Rodion Pogassov, baritone

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra

Vasily Petrenko, conductor

Date: 2017

Label: Onyx

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Review

Three very different musical responses to spring make up this enterprising programme from Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Given Petrenko’s Russian background, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring is an obvious candidate, and he conducts a suitably vigorous performance. Stravinsky and Rachmaninov might not seem the most natural bedfellows but the cantata Spring, composed in 1902, was the latter’s first major choral work and is all too rarely recorded. Debussy’s Printemps adds a dash of French froth to this dark Russian fare.

As anyone who has heard their recent Tchaikovsky cycle will know, the RLPO are in cracking shape under Petrenko’s baton, with playing that is both vibrant and urgent. This pays huge dividends in a pulsating Rite. In 2015 Teodor Currentzis set, for me, a new standard for Rite recordings with a wild, cataclysmic account on Sony. Petrenko’s isn’t quite as ferocious – despite a thumping good bass drum thrillingly caught by the Onyx engineers – but he delivers a fierce, taut reading. Petrenko sets a flowing tempo for the ‘Mystic Circles of the Young Girls’ and sets up a pounding ‘Glorification of the Chosen One’ in a thoroughly satisfying reading.

Rachmaninov’s cantata Vesna (‘Spring’) was composed as a vehicle for Fyodor Chaliapin. The soloist sings the role of a peasant, preparing to kill his faithless wife during the bitter winter only for the arrival of spring to bring about a change of heart. Baritone Rodion Pogassov is a solid soloist, albeit without Sergei Leiferkus’s sardonic, biting way with the text on Charles Dutoit’s Philadelphia recording for Decca. And that text? You’ll have to go online to find it. You’d have thought it would be possible to squeeze it into the six-page booklet, but no.

Dutoit also featured as my comparative listening for Debussy’s Printemps, this time with his French-Canadian Montreal SO. There is plenty of tenderness in the opening section, if not enjoying the same gossamer acoustic enjoyed in Montreal, while the Liverpudlians swagger down the boulevards with almost as much panache in the finale. This is a most enjoyable, entertaining disc.

— Mark Pullinger

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Igor Stravinsky (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a Russian composer. Son of an operatic bass, he studied privately with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov from 1902 to 1908. Soon after the impresario Sergei Diaghilev commissioned Stravinsky to write three ballets for the Ballets Russes: Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). The last of which, with its shifting and audacious rhythms, was a landmark in music history. Later Stravinsky also adopted Neoclassicism and serialism in his composition. His major Neoclassical works include Oedipus rex (1927) and the Symphony of Psalms (1930).

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Sergei Rachmaninov (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. His music was influenced by Tchaikovsky, Arensky and Taneyev. Rachmaninov wrote five works for piano and orchestra: four concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He also composed a number of works for orchestra alone, including three symphonies, the Symphonic Dances Op. 45, and four symphonic poems.

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Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer who was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His orchestral works include Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894), Nocturnes (1897–1899), Images (1905–1912), and La mer (1903–1905). His piano works include sets of 24 Préludes and 12 Études. Throughout his career Debussy also wrote mélodies based on a wide variety of poetry, including his own. His works have strongly influenced a wide range of composers including Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, George Benjamin, and the jazz musician Bill Evans.

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Vasily Petrenko (born 7 July 1976) is a Russian-British conductor. He was educated at the St Petersburg Capella Boys Music School and the St Petersburg Conservatoire where he participated in masterclasses with Ilya Musin, Mariss Jansons and Yuri Temirkanov, among others. Petrenko began his career as Resident Conductor (1994–1997) of St Petersburg’s Mikhailovsky. Since then he has worked with the most prestigious orchestras in Europe, Asia and North America. He served as Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic for fifteen years (2006-21), and is currently Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

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