This CD is reissued by ArkivMusic.
Notes and Editorial Reviews
These are virtuoso scores, and they receive appropriate treatment from the Chicago Orchestra.
Ever the pragmatist, Stravinsky composed both the Symphony of Psalms and the Symphony in C ‘to the glory of God’, and dedicated them at the same time to the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, respectively. The first of them, with its unique sonorities (the staccato opening chord alone is enough to identify its composer beyond any doubt), and the haunting ‘Allelujahs’ of its finale, is one of Stravinsky’s authentic masterpieces – at once austere and intensely dramatic. This altogether fine performance was one of Solti’s very last recordings, and there surely could have been no more fitting way for him to bow out.
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The Symphony in C is a rather more impersonal affair, though both the sombre slow introduction - scored for low bassoons and brass alone - to its finale, and its concluding apotheosis, have deep resonance. As for the Symphony in Three Movements, composed in the Hollywood of the early 1940s, much of it sounds disturbingly like self-parody (there are strong echoes of Le Sacre), and its finale is uncharacteristically bombastic. These are virtuoso scores, and they receive appropriate treatment from the Chicago Orchestra, though Solti surely drives the graceful opening movement of the Symphony in C too hard.
Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5)
-- Misha Donat, BBC Music Magazine
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Works on This Recording
1.
Symphony of Psalms by Igor Stravinsky
Conductor:
Sir Georg Solti
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
Chicago Symphony Chorus,
Glen Ellyn Children's Choir
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1930/1948; France
Date of Recording: 03/1997
Venue: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois
Length: 21 Minutes 3 Secs.
Language: Latin
2.
Symphony in C by Igor Stravinsky
Conductor:
Sir Georg Solti
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1939-1940; USA
Date of Recording: 03/1997
Venue: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois
Length: 28 Minutes 10 Secs.
3.
Symphony in Three Movements by Igor Stravinsky
Conductor:
Sir Georg Solti
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1942-1945; USA
Date of Recording: 11/02/1998
Venue: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois
Length: 22 Minutes 23 Secs.
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