05/24/07
I'm nicely surprised by the performance by L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under the baton of Ernest Ansermet, of Sibelius's Fourth Symphony. Lighter touch than usual. It almost feels of a kind with the Sixth Symphony, an affinity I hadn't noticed before. (I had previously bought into the idea that this symphony was enigmatic and daring and all that; not pastoral!)
I've just started listening to the new box set, Ernest Ansermet: Decca Recordings 1953-1967. The Sibelius follows performance of Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite, also not bad. (The first disc featured a Bach piece, a brisk-but-elegant performance of Haydn's Philosopher, and a well-directed but not quite well-performed rendition of Beethoven's great Fourth Symphony. I'll be listening to this disc a lot, I'm sure, despite its flaws.)
I cut my Stravinskian teeth on Ansermet's interpretations of Stravinsky masterworks, on LP, years and years ago. Now it's interesting to hear Ansermet again, eons later. I can hardly wait to crack open another Decca set I just got, an eight-CD box set of Ansermet doing Stravinsky classics.
Why buy this set too? Because I just can't get enough Stravinsky? (Close.) But the answer is a bit different: I've never heard the one-act opera Mavra, and it's included. Still, I'll be keeping that as a treat; I've a lot of music to go through before I get to that final CD.
Besides, I would have to take Sibelius's Fourth off my queue long enough, wouldn't I?
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