If we hadn’t already selected a Multichannel Disc of the Month I would make this SACD it. Though there’s plenty of competition, even just in the SACD format, for both works, they are seldom paired on the same disc – in fact the only SACD I found was on the German Membran label which is not distributed in the U.S. My previous SACD favorite of Rite was Paavo Jarvi and the Cincinnati Symphony on Telarc (with Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony), but Jansons’ new version easily eclipses that one with a better-sounding orchestra and completely immersing and exciting surround sound – putting the listener right in the Concertgebouw.
These are two entirely different ballet scores, but both unmistakably Stravinsky. The Firebird was the composer’s first big statement that gained him attention, and in it he used ideas from Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel and even Scriabin – doing it perhaps even better than his mentors had. The classy tone-painting of Firebird is left behind in the violent and primitive Rite of Spring, which shocked the Parisian musical world. It takes an orchestra with the chops of the Concertgebouw to communicate the primitive nature of this score to the max, but to do it with the fantastic precision heard on this amazing recording. Of course a good part of the praise should go to both the famed Concertgebouw Hall acoustics and the talents of the RCO engineers in capturing the 5.0-channel sonics via DSD. The many bass drum whaps in both works come thru with disturbing impact, yet don’t sound exaggerated or spot-lit as the ones on many Telarcs do. For once the final Sacrificial Dance of the Rite sounds like it could really be accompanying the death of The Chosen One. This should prove a fabulous demo disc for those into hi-res surround!
– John Sunier
