Igor Stravinsky In 4 Deals

Two successes. One, at least, 'Movements', can be claimed to have had some sort of imprimatur from Stravinsky himself, by recording Margit Weber, whom Libman, who was in a position to know, says Stravinsky preferred to Charles Rosen in this work and wanted her to record it with him. And I don't suppose the riotous and uninhibited 'Jeu de Cartes' here - from Munich -which has very little in common with either of Stravinsky's commercial recordings of the piece - can entirely be pushed out of the receiving line, since he conducts it himself, without any sign of any attempt to tame the proceedings. He was lucky it didn't bring him before the Committee on Un-American activities, but perhaps they didn't want to risk the reaction accusing a Euro-orchestra of lack of grace might provoke. Personally I'm all for this performance, but the other genuine success is Oistrakh's peerless version of the Violin Concerto with Haitink, which makes the improbable collision of Bach and 'Petrushka' inevitable and right. The joker is Klemperer's wrongheaded and obstinate 1962 studio 'Pulcinella' suite, the polar opposite of everything it should have been and yet deeply considered and saying a great deal about Stravinsky's ear and the nature of orchestral playing styles of eighteenth and twentieth century music. Praga Digitalis have conceived exactly the context within which it can be listened to for what it is, with enjoyment. But Fricsay and Margit Weber's sense of the melodic structure of 'Movements' is something to come back to. Often.