Paavo Jarvi And The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Record Stravinskyís Firebird Suite, Petrouchka And Scherzo A La Russe

Repertoire Includes Some Of The Composerís Most Challenging Works

30-Jun-03

Now available in discrete multi-channel surround SACD as well as the CD recording! SACD Released In June, 2003.Following up on their critically acclaimed recording of Sibeliusí Symphony No. 2 in D Major and Tubinís Symphony No. 5 in B Minor, Paavo Jarvi and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra are back with three of Igor Stravinskyís most provocative works, The Firebird Suite, Petrouchka and Scherzo a la Russe. Facing an intriguing compositional challenge in the Firebird, Stravinsky followed the example of Rimsky-Korsakovís opera The Golden Cockerel and represented the natural characters and scenes in a diatonic style, while the supernatural was interpreted with chromatic music. The orchestration in Firebird is spectacular. One instance is the famous passage of natural harmonic string glissandos at the end of the introduction. Also, the vivid drive of the ìInfernal Danceî foreshadows the brutally primitivistic world of The Rite of Spring. Petrouchka is a story of a puppet who is made of straw and sawdust but with the capacity to love. He is to the Russians what Pierrot is to the French, Punch to the English and Pinocchio to the Italiansóa not-quite-real being whose tragedy is his very real passion, which make him yearn for an unattainable human life. At one time, Petrouchka was once thought fearfully dissonant. The most famous dissonance is the ìPetrouchka chord,î a combination of C major and F-sharp major triads first heard in the clarinets just after the opening of the second scene. This strident sonority, which returns periodically throughout the remainder of the ballet, represents Pertrouchkaís insults. Despite this and other dissonances, and despite jagged rhythms and irregular meters, Petrouchka has remained one of the most popular of twentieth-century compositions. Stravinksy moved from Europe to America in 1939 and settled in Los Angeles, where he came into contact with the Hollywood entertainment industry. He had a genuine affection for the Hollywood style but unfortunately none of his music ended up in any movies. The best example of this style is Scherzo a la Russe, which was supposed to be part of the soundtrack for the movie The North Star, which was made in response to President Rooseveltís appeal to Hollywood for some films that paid tribute to the Russian troops fighting the Nazis. The workís Russian influence is quite palpable. Particularly significant in this regard is the combination of harp and piano (in close canon) in the worksí first trio. This sonority invokes that of the gusli, an instrument used by Russian traveling folk singers and clowns. One of the most sought-after conductors of his generation, Paavo Jarvi became the twelfth music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in September 2001. A forty-year-old American born in Estonia, Maestro Jarvi has earned praise from critics around the world. A pupil of Leonard Bernstein, ìhe has much of the latterís charisma and a similar ability to galvanize an orchestra into playing with furious intensity and bravura panache,î said Tim Ashley in The Guardian. He will lead the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in twelve weekends of concerts and five tour performances in the U.S. in the 2002-2003 season, his second as music director. His first recording with Telarc, in August 2001, was Berliozís Symphonie fantastique and the Love Scene from Berliozís Romeo et Juliette. ìThe brilliance of Berliozí orchestration is brought out in finely detailed sound with textures clarified,î wrote Edward Greenfield in Gramophone. His second Telarc recording of Sibeliusí Symphony No. 2 and Tubinís Symphony No. 5 was also critically acclaimed, Stephen Johnson of BBC Music Magazine said, ìAll credit to Paavo Jarvióthese are gripping, deeply felt performances.î