Iván Fischer - Stravinsky: Rite of Spring, Firebird Suite, Scherzo, Tango (2010/2012) [SACD]

For this all-Stravinsky album, Iván Fischer & the Budapest Festival Orchestra present Le Sacre du printemps, along with the suite from L’oiseau de feu, the Scherzo à la Russe, & the orchestral version of the Tango. Naturally, the main draw is Le Sacre, & the quality of the performance is everything to the success of this 2012 SACD release on Channel Classics. Fortunately for fans of this revolutionary ballet & audiophiles who relish Stravinsky’s innovative orchestration, this rendition is a sonic treat filled with remarkable details & breathtaking sonorities, & propelled with enough energy to make it viscerally exciting. Fischer tends to take the slow sections a bit too languidly, in part to create a great feeling of weight, but also to let the multi-layered counterpoint & complex harmonies be heard clearly. But the music is astonishingly fast where it needs to be, the explosions in the percussion are as dynamic & loud as any ever recorded, & the Danse sacrale is wonderfully violent. The performances of L’oiseau de feu, the Scherzo, & the Tango are enjoyable & good to have as filler, but the listener may well take a rest after hearing Le Sacre because Fischer & the orchestra give it everything they have. The sound of this recording is impressively deep & spacious, & virtually everything is audible, even in the softest passages.