Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; Igor Stravinsky - Scheherazade; Song of the Nightingale (Fritz Reiner)

Information

Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; Igor Stravinsky

• (01-04) Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade, Op. 35
• (05-12) Stravinsky - Le chant du rossignol

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Fritz Reiner, conductor

Date: 1956 (5-12), 1960 (1-4)
Label: RCA

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

I listen in awe of these performances, whose luster hasn't dimmed one iota in the passing decades. Aside from the fact that Fritz Reiner's Scheherazade remains one of the most physically exciting versions available, with playing of breathtaking virtuosity in the finale, the contributions of the orchestra's wind soloists in the two inner movements are absolutely radiant and brimming with character. There may be versions as good as this, but it remains a touchstone interpretation in every respect.

If anything, this observation is even more true of the Stravinsky, where in addition to the phenomenal playing, Reiner brings a transparency to the tuttis and a shapeliness of phrasing to the work's latter stages that puts most other versions in the shade. This piece is usually very problematic, in that it tends to fall apart into seemingly unrelated episodes, beginning with a bang and ending with a whimper. Not here. Reiner sees its entire 22 minutes whole, sustaining the long narrative thread from first note to last. Sonically, whether in 3-channel SACD sound or regular stereo, these recordings represent the finest that the Living Stereo engineers were achieving in the mid-1950s and early '60s, which is to say that they remain, like the performances themselves, a standard by which all others are still measured. Magnificent!

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2005/Mar05/Rimsky_Scheherazade_82876663772.htm
http://www.audaud.com/2015/06/rimsky-korsakoff-scheherazade-chicago-sym-orch-fritz-reiner-rca-living-stereo-analogue-productionsprokofieff-lieutenant-kije-stravinsky-song-of-the-nightingale-chicago-sym-orc/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rimsky-Korsakov-Scheherazade-Stravinsky-Song-Nightingale/dp/B0006PV5VC
http://www.amazon.com/Scheherazade-Song-Nightingale-REINER-CHICAGO/dp/B0006PV5VC
http://www.amazon.com/Rimsky-Korsakov-Scheherazade-Stravinsky-Song-Nightingale/dp/B000003FWQ

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Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (18 March [O.S. 6 March] 1844 – 21 June [O.S. 8 June] 1908) was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was considered a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Rimsky-Korsakov shaped a generation of younger composers and musicians during his decades as an educator, and is considered "the main architect" of what the classical music public considers the Russian style of composition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rimsky-Korsakov

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Igor Stravinsky (17 June [O.S. 5 June] 1882 – 6 April 1971) was a Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. Stravinsky's compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and the Rite of Spring (1913). Stravinsky's output is typically divided into three general style periods: a Russian period, a neoclassical period, and a serial period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Stravinsky

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Fritz Reiner (December 19, 1888 – November 15, 1963) was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century. Hungarian born and trained, he emigrated to the United States in 1922, where he rose to prominence as a conductor with several orchestras. He reached the pinnacle of his career while music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the 1950s and early 1960s. Despite having a very wide repertory, Reiner was especially noted as an interpreter of Richard Strauss and Bartók. His conducting technique was defined by its precision and economy, in the manner of Arturo Toscanini.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Reiner

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