Stravinsky: The Firebird / Petrushka / The Rite of Spring
Peter Dickinson, Gramophone:
'The unusual thing about this piano duet recording of
Stravinsky is that Philip Moore has arranged the last three dances
from The Firebird to give us music from all three of these famous
ballets. The precedent is, of course, the complete duet version of
The Rite of Spring, the three numbers from Petrushka for solo piano
as well as duet, and the tendency at that time for composers to make
keyboard versions of orchestral works. Moore also points out that
Stravinsky composed at the piano so a translation back to keyboard is
not difficult.
The process in The Firebird is entirely convincing. From its first chord,
the "Infernal Dance of King Kashchei" is electric and stays that
way, the transition to the Lullaby (also called Berceuse) is pregnant
with atmosphere, and the finale is terrific. The duo's ensemble is
astonishingly good - and there are plenty of challenges in The Rite
of Spring, which must be the duettists' equivalent of climbing
Everest. The sheer panache of these performers makes this a most
satisfying release with a unique feature.'
Leandro Ferraccioli, International Piano:
'Stravinsky's ballet works and the piano are inextricably linked. He
actually composed them at the instrument and, for rehearsal purposes, also
made his own two- and four-hand arrangements. Indeed, in many ways these
are valid keyboard pieces in their own right (most famously in the case of
Petrushka) and this recital by piano duo Philip Moore and Simon
Crawford-Phillips is a welcome addition to the catalogue.
Alongside Stravinsky's own arrangements of The Rite of Spring
and Petrushka, here we have a four-hand "first": Philip Moore's
own highly effective version of The Firebird and in my view
worth the price of this disc alone. In Kaschei's 'Infernal Dance' there
is some glittering virtuosity and propulsive rhythmic impetus, but the duo
is mindful of the Firebird's opulent, exotic colour. The hypnotic
bell-tolls of 'Lullaby' are particularly good in this respect, while the
duo's crisp, precise pedaling never blurs textures and the steady build
of sound in the finale creates a thrillingly ecstatic, orchestral climax.
In Petrushka, we really get a sense of the luckless puppet and
the piece's balletic character. Moreover, in the 'Russian Dance' and 'Shrovetide Fair' the extra pair of hands allows for a greater variety
of inner voices, orchestral detailing and layering of sound.
In The Rite of Spring, Moore and Crawford-Phillips avoid turning
the work into an imitative slugfest, focusing instead on the score's rich
detailing and rhythmic complexity. 'Spring Rounds' and 'Procession of
the Sage' are superbly atmospheric and earthy in character.
With piano duet versions of Stravinsky's ballet music thin on the
ground, this recital is a compelling choice.'
Dominy Clements, Music-Web
International:
'This new recording has a
trilogy of Diaghilev ballets by Igor Stravinsky in, with the exception of The
Firebird, the composer's own versions for piano duet. ...
With no Stravinsky
four-hand transcription of The Firebird available, Philip Moore
undertook the project of arranging the work for four hands, recorded here
for the first time. As with all of these works, the music has a directness
and logic which almost transcends the instrumentation used, but Moore's
arrangement is more than mere transcription. Certainly it creates a useful
addition to the piano duet repertoire, but it also creates some marvellous
pianistic moments. The rocking Lullaby takes on the character of
Mussorgskian Russian bells at times, and the outer movements both create a
musical tour-de-force which I suspect will find its way into core
repertoire territory.
Petrushka again
presents no problems in this format, with plenty of 'orchestral'
colour and dynamism. The quicksilver contrasts and programmatic nature of
the motives make this harder to bring off in some ways than The
Firebird, but while there are one or two slightly heavy moments with
repetitive passages this duo manages the complex and richly notated score
well enough. ...
I am seriously impressed
by this duo, and this new recording mixes it well with other established
names in this repertoire. ... this is a recording and performance which will supplement the
orchestral version in your collection ... and add a refreshingly new and
technically imposing view on these seminal 20th century
masterpieces.'
Glyn Pursglove, Music-Web
International:
'Piano-duet versions of Petrushka and The Rite of Spring exist from Stravinsky's
own pen. No such version of The Firebird survives and Philip
Moore has prepared a transcription for this recording. In a note
contributed to the CD booklet, Moore describes the process as "essentially
about translating orchestral drama into pianistic drama whilst
preserving the logic and clarity of the part writing - my guiding
principle, if there was one at all, was that as far as possible the
musical texture should be split into its constituent parts and these
then divided between the pianists, so that each player is following
complete musical lines, thereby engendering a free, impulsive
performance in the true spirit of chamber music".
Those final
phrases very well describe the music-making on this disc. There is a
very real sense in which piano-duet versions, if they are well made
and if they are well performed, don't so much preserve the logic
and clarity of the part writing of orchestral works as actually
enhance them, or at any rate make them easier to discern even if
there are also inevitable losses in the movement from full orchestra
to four hands at the piano. One of the pleasures of a disc such
as this is that it sends one back to the orchestral works as a better
listener, a listener with ears and mind more fully alert to those
structures which can sometimes be partially lost behind the mass of
orchestral detail. That is my experience, at least - especially
where the works in question are these three great ballets by
Stravinsky, so full of attractive orchestral colour and detail.
But
I don't want to give the impression that this CD is of interest merely
as a means to a different end, as it were. It deserves - and rewards - attention on its own terms. It is with Philip Moore's transcription
of The Firebird that we begin and one's confidence in proceedings
is immediately gained. Maybe there's more passion than darkness
in 'The Infernal Dance of King Kashchei' but the music certainly
dances, with an energy I haven't always encountered in performances
of the orchestral original. The central 'Lullaby' rocks gently
and persuasively, the writing for the piano and the playing alike
delightful and rhythmically subtle, while the 'Finale' has great
majesty without ever being over-inflated. The 'Russian Dance' which
opens Petrushka is vivacious and engaging, the sound-picture of Petrushka's
room has some exquisite moments and some abrupt changes of mood. The 'Shrovetide Fair' which closes this trio of pieces has all
the frenzy one might expect, passages of pursuit and violence played
with exciting precision and evocative insight. The incisive rhythms
of the original and its sheer momentum are captured with a fresh
intimacy in this 'small-scale' version. The interplay between Moore
and Crawford-Phillips is absolute, so that one readily forgets that
there are two performers, so complete is the integration of their
contributions.
In their performance of the Rite there is plenty of
drive and momentum, but never at the cost of accuracy. Moore
and Crawford-Phillips capture so much of the spirit of the work, so much
of its archetypal, mythical quality, so much of its sense of sacred
renewal, that an innocent hearer would surely not suspect that it was
a mere 'version' of a work more famous in another musical medium. They do full justice to the Rite's sub-title, "Pictures of Pagan
Russia". In an earlier review, Dominy Clements spoke of how
Moore and Crawford-Phillips "catch the Russianness in the work and avoid
the shadow of Debussy" - and that puts it very well. Moore and Crawford-Phillips are never underpowered, never less than
fully responsive to the emotional range of this ceaselessly
astonishing piece.
These young English pianists are a team to reckon
with and they are well served by a vivid recorded sound. This
CD offers listeners the chance both to enjoy a fresh perspective on
three orchestral masterpieces and to hear an outstanding piano duet
at work.'
Julian Maynard-Smith, Classical Web:
'This CD is the first recording on which movements from all
three of the Diaghilev ballets are available as piano duets. While 'Petrushka'
and 'The Rite of Spring' had been transcribed for two pianos, 'The
Firebird' hadn't - a gap in the repertoire that Philip Moore himself
decided to fill.
In the CD booklet, he states that his guiding principle in undertaking
this task, " ... was that as far as possible the musical texture
should be split into its constituent parts and these then divided between
the pianists, so that each player is following complete musical lines,
thereby engendering a free, impulsive performance in the true spirit of
chamber music. In this aim Moore has been successful - the three
Firebird movements have no audible seams or splits, and brim with
propulsive energy. If it weren't for the sheer complexity of the
textures, you could be forgiven for thinking you were hearing one pianist.
The full palette of an orchestra may be reduced to the black and white
of piano keys, yet Moore and Crawford-Phillips - with their cleanly
articulated and vigorous playing, full of sensitive dynamics - provide
colouration in abundance. 'The Infernal Dance of King Kashchei', for
example, ranges from clipped aggression to airy joy, before a tumultuous
climax that subsides into weariness and melancholia, segueing perfectly
into a haunting and suitably nocturnal 'Lullaby'.
The three movements from 'Petrushka' are equally sparkling and
energised. With the vigorous descending run at the end of 'Shrovetide
Fair', one can imagine that the Old Wizard has forced the puppet
Petrushka to spin into a final Dervish-like dance, before letting him
collapse in an exhausted heap.
It is with 'The Rite of Spring' movements (thirteen, as opposed to
the three apiece for 'Firebird' and 'Petrushka') that the bulk of
the CD lies. And it is here that the shift from orchestra to pianos is
perhaps most dramatic. The biting dissonance and jagged time-signature
shifts are starkly illuminated, reminding this listener of just how
shocking this seminal work must have sounded to its first audience at the
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in 1913. It's not all anguished
Russianness; there are moments of quietness and contemplation, although
even the pianissimo passages occasionally sound full of suppressed fury.
Since first performing together in 1995, Moore and Crawford-Phillips
have picked up prizes and praise alike and - judging by their
performances on this disk - deservedly so.'
