Repertoire: The BEST Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2020
- This spectacular and iconic 20th-century choral masterpiece has been recorded innumerable times, sometimes very badly, but I'll tell you how to find the best versions. Only about twenty minutes long, a great recording makes a much bigger and deeper impression than the music's relatively brief duration would suggest.
Musical Example courtesy of Supraphon Records. 
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One of the BEST things corona did was to bring us your channel!
Well, after your condemnation of the Boulez-recording, I must tell you a perhaps interesting detail.
When Boulez was in Vienna to perform Mahler‘s 2nd symphony, I had a long interview / talk with him, in which I told him that in my opinion he got untrue to his earlier position that neoclassizism is bad. My example was the „Symphony of Psalms“. Boulez, always kind and mild mannered in this afternoon, answered that his main interest was „Swesdoliki“, and he claimed to have found something of this work in the final passages of the Symphony of Psalms. And then he frankly admitted that there are many passages, which aren‘t interesting for him, especially the fugue. I had the impression that he had conducted the whole work just because of it’s last section.
Thanks for this bit of insider info!
Thank you. This is one of my favorite 20th century pieces. It’s good to know that the version I have (Stravinsky & CBC Orch.) is respectable, and to know that Ancerl is great in this too!
You mentioned Les Noces, one of the underappreciated genius works of the 20th century. A suggestion for a future video. Thanks for all your work, I look forward to each video.
Already did it.
It’s really amazing that you know so many records.
Thanks David! One of my favorite Stravinsky masterpieces, the one that can bring tears, particularly the last movement.
Please do a rundown of oedipus soon! Wishing you well
Thank you! Will do! I love Oedipus too. Such a great piece.
Oh yeah, I have that Ancerl disc. Haven’t listened to it in about 15 years, but I remember really liking it. What a unique sonority.
Thanks for steering me to Tilson Thomas’s Symphony of Psalms-I feel as though I had never really heard it before; ditto for the other two symphonies in this disc.
I was a student in West Berlin in 1980. My first concert that I heard Karajan conduct live was: the Bach 2nd Brandenburg, Symphony of Psalms and Strauss Metamorphosen. I knew the piece well already, and enjoyed the concert very much. The Bach was forgettable, the Stravinsky was very exciting. The chorus was from the Deutsch Oper, and not so great, but still, I thought it was a wonderful performance. The Strauss was also wonderful.
This magnificent work I did not get to appreciate in the recordings until I performed it with the choir, since like almost all Stravinsky, it is hard to listen, and since then, it is one of my favorite works in the repertoire.
That central movement reminds me sooo much of The Fellowships encounter with the Balrog 'Durin's Bane' down in Moria/Khazad-Dum. So intense!
Love the Tenebrae interpretation on Signum, I really like the acoustics there.
I've already thanked you for introducing me to the "Oedipus Rex" that this "Symphony of Psalms" is coupled with - I downloaded the album from Presto Music in the UK - and it's all magnificent in every way.
...best analysis I've heard (and I'm a musicologist)...
Thank you.
A personal favorite is the Bernstein/LSO. This was the first performance I ever purchased, though it was an lp (Columbia?) paired with the Poulenc Gloria performed by the NY Philharmonic, Judith Blegen and the Westminster Choir.
Woohoo! Thanks for another great Stravinsky video. Still waiting with bated breath on your take on best Petrushka recordings!
Pet-who? Don't worry. We'll get there, along with the Firechicken.
Dave. A gorgeous piece of music and of course a staple masterpiece. I have the Stravinsky recording which I love and will quickly add this one to my vastly growing (and, my friend, thanks to your good self, expensive) Classical collection. Can I put this out to all of us? Do I hear a Symphony of Psalms influence in the gorgeous Glass Symphony No. 5? I feel like the final movement of Stravinsky, I dont know, has a sound that reminds me of the Glass symphony (or of course vice versa).
Have the Tilson Thomas but glad you mentioned the Chailly (the original disc also had terrific versions of Fireworks, The King of the Stars cantata and The Song of The Nightingale symphonic poem as well). Chailly IMHO is generally a great Stravinsky conductor (not withstanding his weak beer recent Le Sacre with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra - not a patch on his Cleveland version). Love his London Sinfonietta version of The Soldier's Tale suite and The Fairy's Kiss!
The Chailly version is on Spotify. Definitely a great one.
I've loved MTT's Sony recording, but lately Ive been really taken by Maazel's 1998 recording on RCA -- at least, for the moment, that's my favorite.
That was a very enthusiastic commentary! Thank you, David Hurwitz! I wonder why you don't like Gardiner's recording with the LSO and the Monteverdi Choir. I find it so good...
It punches the musicians too hard
I’ve bought just about every performance of the Symphony of Psalms I can find. One I particularly like is Harry Christophers with the Sixteen and the BBC Philharmonic. The Sixteen are a fantastic choir, maybe the best I’ve heard for this work. I’m personally allergic to anything which feels like “choral society” singing in Stravinsky, so if you feel the same way, give it a go.
Christophers is surprisingly good as an orchestral conductor - super accurate at the punchy rhythms. And the recorded sound is good.
Dear Mr Hurwitz.
I wonder if you have made a video where you'redan talking about the best recordings of Mahler's first symphony (titan)?
Not yet, but it's coming!
The Canadian government funded a documentary film centered on Stravinsky conducting the 1963 recording that you first mentioned. The antics in the recording booth could be the basis of a mini series, with a head engineer that resembles Rodney Dangerfield and a doubtful and nervous Robert Craft getting Bryl Creme in his eye!
I figured you’d discuss this great work before long. I can only agree with you on Stravinsky’s own, Bernstein, and best of all, Ancerl. However 😀 there’s another top recording you didn’t mention and that received a 10/10 rating by you in Classics Today and is equal to Ancerl: Robert Craft with the Philharmonia and Simon Joly Chorale on Koch (now on Naxos) that also contains first-rate performances of Les Noces and Threni.
You're right, but I think that was more for the Les Noces than the SoP, good as it is.
*Terrifying thumbnail*
Yeah, what’s up with that? Enquiring minds want to know!
@@MilsteinRulez Looks like it's sorted.
I don't know. RUclips picks 'em.
@@DavesClassicalGuide You're face was all compressed. It will be in my nightmares tonight...
@@wormswithteeth Thank you!
It is an awesome piece. It has the potential of being awkward when not well performed. I've sung Symphony of Psalms at least twice that I recall. The experience was one of many highlights of singing with a large choir.
But does the Ancerl still have the two pizzicati right at the end snipped off?
No.
Great choice for #1. There's something very special about the combination of this music, Karel Ancerl, and the timbre..the "TANGY" sound, as you say, of both the chorus and the winds ("REEDY", I would add). Best-Kept Secret in Music: CZECH choral singing is the BEST in the world. There's weight to the sound...but not as heavy and dark as Russian or Bulgarian; it's part of the natural sound of the Czech speaking voice...a sort of fine-grained, burnished quality that gets pretty wobbly and annoying in SOLO singing, but somehow blends beautifully in a chorus. Check (Czech) any of the great Supraphon recordings of Martinu's choral works, or try Neumann's INCREDIBLE Mahler 8th!!
Singing is an essential part of the Czech culture, taught from a very early age in schools. That's why Czech CHILDREN's choruses are by far..hands down...NO CONTEST...the best on the planet; sorry, but the Vienna Boy's Choir doesn't come close. In the mid 6o's , they were the Prague Radio Children's Chorus (astounding Britten Ceremony of Carols under Serge Baudo) but later changed their name to I BAMBINI DI PRAGA (why the Italian name I never understood). If interested, try I BAMBINI's 1991 recording of Dvorak's Moravian Duets and the lovely Ten Songs of Josef Suk on the MultiSonic label. I keep two copies on hand, one filed under "D", the other under "S". LR
Dave, when are you going to cover the Symphony in Three Movements, and the Symphony in C?
I have no idea!
I agree with David's distaste for boy singers. Their thin tone and provisional intonation set my nerves on edge! I make an exception for the "bim bam" part of Mahler's third, where their roughness gives an appropriately lively quality to the music.
That Ancerl recording is just outstanding. The Shaw recording is distant and almost timid. Bernstein packs a punch, but the multi-miking is annoying!
Bernstein, Bernstein, and Bernstein!!!!! LOL :-))
You mean the law firm?
David Hurwitz 😊😂😂
@@DavesClassicalGuide There used to be a law-firm in Ireland named "Argue and Phibbs", a legal practice run by Messrs WH Argue and Talbot Phibbs. Strange but true.
@@ftumschk There's a malpractice lawyer in West Virginia named Faultless
@@pbarach1 Let's not forget the law firm of a certain lowbrow comedy team: Dewey, Cheatem' and Howe.
Shaw had no wrist. He couldn’t conduct anything that had a lot of mixed meter or quick tempo changes, so his symphony of psalms didn’t work because of it. Same with the Bernstein Chichester and Carmina Burana.
If it needed strict rhythm, he wasn’t the guy for it.
But he had a great ankle.
I hotly differ with you, Sir- hard to believe, but the The Temple University Kazoo Choir suffers from a reluctance to embrace vibrato, probably due to their (hard to justify) commitment to a 'period sound' in the relevant repertoire. Furthermore, they overly privilege the role of kazoo in their interpretations, attempting to usurp the role not only of the entire brass and wind sections, but the string contributions as well.. Finally, and inexplicably, they are chronically reluctant to embrace the dynamic potential of their playing. No, this ensemble is thoroughly unsuited to 'take on' the Symphony of Psalms.
I do not say these things as a purist- perhaps Rochester's Duduk Collective would be up to such a task.
I mean of Oedipus Rex.
Oedipus had his pizzicati snipped off? I never knew he was Jewish.
I'll try to remember to check.
All there, plain as day.
@@LyleFrancisDelp 😂👏👏