This new release observes a number of firsts: It is the only SACD Universal has issued in a very long time, aside from the last series of Mercury Living Presence three-channel issues. So perhaps SACD hasn’t been completely abandoned by them. It is the first live recording issued which was made in architect Frank Gehry’s exciting and highly-praised new Disney Hall in Los Angeles, home of the LA Philharmonic. It is Salonen’s rethinking of the touchstone of 20th century concert music, The Rite of Spring. Lastly, it will be the first hearing for most listeners of the original all-Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain, rather than the greatly-doctored arrangement by Rimsky-Korsakov with which we are all familiar.
The Halloweeny doings on Bald (or Bear) Mountain are quite different in Mussorgsky’s original score heard here. It sounds in much of it a completely different piece of music. Rimsky-Korsakoff not only gussied up the orchestration of the piece but dropped in music from other Mussorgsky pieces and added effects such as the cock crowing at the end. While the original lacks the slam-bang conclusion of the Rimsky-Korsakoff treatment, it can stand on its own as an atmospheric depiction of witchy activities on the mountain.
Salonen’s Rite doesn’t run much different in length from other performances, but distinguishes itself from other interpretations of the popular primitive ballet music. The brass section is not as biting-sounding as in some versions, but Salonen maintains a forward impetus thruout instead of emphasizing the vertical structures. Everything seems to be rushing forward with breathtaking inevitability, toward the sacrifice at the end. The clarity of the hi-res surround reproduction brings out fine details in the scoring which may have been missed before. The point is made that every bit of Stravinsky’s score is here, unlike the Readers Digest version of The Rite which Disney himself used on the multichannel soundtrack of his epic classical music feature Fantasia in 1939. The Bartok ballet music shares with the Rite a feeling of violence and strong dissonances. Both works also prompted their share of public outcry and shock at the subject matter.
Some halls which have acoustic problems still can produce excellent recordings (for example, San Francisco’s Davies Hall), but the general feedback on Disney Hall has been good. The SACD surround option projects a wide soundstage with excellent clarity and a feeling of the ambiance of the space. I would highly recommend this disc, and perhaps widespread purchase of it – even you don’t yet have SACD capability – could convince Universal to return to issuing more SACDs again.
– John Sunier
