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Ancerl Gold Edition 14 - Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex, Etc


Release Date: 04/22/2003 
Label:  Supraphon   Catalog #: 3674   Spars Code: ADD 
Composer:  Igor Stravinsky
Performer:  Antonín Zlesák,  Karel Berman,  Eduard Haken,  Vera Soukupová,   ... 
Conductor:  Karel Ancerl
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Czech Philharmonic Orchestra,  Prague Philharmonic Chorus
Number of Discs: 1 
Recorded in: Stereo 
Length: 1 Hours 13 Mins. 

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Notes and Editorial Reviews

No need to mince words here: this is the finest Symphony of Psalms available, certainly the best featuring a full chorus of men and women. If your hair doesn't stand on end when, in the first movement, the massed voices hurl out the words "et deprecationem meam", then you are either aurally challenged or dead. Has Stravinsky's immaculately cool wind writing ever sounded better? Has the second-movement double fugue ever been more clearly phrased or the closing pages sung with such calm intensity? Here's the bottom line: if you haven't heard this performance, then you simply don't know the Symphony of Psalms. Orchestra, chorus, and conductor are all beyond praise.


Oedipus Rex is every bit as fine. Even the Read more typically Slavic timbre of the voices suits the music. Ivo Zidek makes a splendid title character, singing Stravinsky's high tessitura with complete confidence and firm tone. Vera Soukupová's motherly tone makes a superb foil to the otherwise entirely male cast, her attempt to calm the bickering Oedipus and Creon completely convincing. In the latter role, Karel Berman shines as one of the best on disc, and all of the small parts are well cast. As in the Symphony, the choral singing is stunning, and Ancerl's direction is a model of clarity and rhythmic incisiveness. Excellently recorded in their day, both performances sound perhaps slightly brighter in this transfer, but just as good as they always have. If you don't own this disc, you're missing something very, very special. Texts are given in original languages (Latin and French) only. [6/14/2003]
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com Read less

Works on This Recording

1. Oedipus rex by Igor Stravinsky
Performer:  Antonín Zlesák (Tenor), Karel Berman (Baritone), Eduard Haken (Bass),
Vera Soukupová (Alto), Zdenek Kroupa (Baritone), Ivo Zidek (Tenor),
Jean Desailly (Spoken Vocals)
Conductor:  Karel Ancerl
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Czech Philharmonic Orchestra,  Prague Philharmonic Chorus
Period: 20th Century 
Written: 1926-1927; France 
 Language: Latin 
2. Symphony of Psalms by Igor Stravinsky
Conductor:  Karel Ancerl
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Czech Philharmonic Orchestra,  Prague Philharmonic Chorus
Period: 20th Century 
Written: 1930/1948; France 
 Language: Latin 

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