Stravinsky: The Fairy's Kiss; Faun and Shepherdess op. 2; Ode (Elegiacal Chant)

Lucy Shelton, Oliver Knussen, The Cleveland Orchestra

Released on 1997-01-01 by Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Main artists: Lucy Shelton The Cleveland Orchestra Oliver Knussen
Genre: Classical

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The two beautifully produced Deutsche Grammophon recordings of Igor Stravinsky's music made in the mid-1990s by composer and conductor Oliver Knussen (1952-2018) remain the crown jewels of his extensive discography. Rather like Michael Tilson Thomas who tackled the two faces of Aaron Copland (with the two fascinating albums "The Modernist" and "The Populist") for RCA, Oliver Knussen's albums offer two little-known facets of the composer of Petrushka. On the one hand, in Cleveland, the tender Stravinsky, is on display in an infinitely poetic version of the full-length ballet The Fairy's Kiss, in which Knussen brings elegance and élan to Igor Stravinsky's little-known 'Tchaikovskian' efforts. On the other hand, in London, we have the arid late Stravinsky (The Flood, Requiem Canticles, etc.), including Charles Wuorinen's very interesting tribute to his elder (A Reliquary for Igor Stravinsky).

In the programme that includes The Fairy's Kiss, Knussen also offers, as an introduction, Opus 2, The Faun and the Shepherdess, and the little-known Ode of 1943, subtitled 'Chant élégiaque en trois parties [Elegiac Song in Three Parts]' which had enjoyed masterful treatments in the 1970s-1980s from Sir Alexander Gibson, who chose rather more measured tempos (Chandos). In this startlingly brilliant work, which comes with a strong sense of mischief, the Cleveland Orchestra, well-versed in Stravinsky, deploys dizzying virtuosity and an almost floating musicality (Eclogue. Con moto), sharpened by the Briton's ardent conducting style: a work of fanatical precision, and yet without any coldness. It is as admirable as it is exciting. Oliver Knussen does not miss the opportunity to point out that this Stravinsky of the early 1940s anticipated the American minimalist movement that would emerge in the 1960s. And what fluidity! What tenderness, too—listen to the string crescendo at the heart of the Eulogy.

Could we hope for a better performance of The Fairy's Kiss? The discophile will continue to cherish Ansermet's 1962 recording (Decca); but we've got to admit that Oliver Knussen manages an even subtler marriage of the dramatic impetus of Tchaikovsky's great late ballets, their very fine orchestration, and the tenderly nostalgic spirit proper to the Stravinsky of the late 1920s, who was remembering the great Russia of his childhood. The final apotheosis Berceuse Of The Eternal Dwellings recalls the closing scene of the Firebird, as much as it announces the apotheosis in 1948's Orpheus: a masterful demonstration from Knussen that Stravinsky's works all form a part of an artistic whole, despite the apparently disparate aesthetic threads that run through his works. In The Faun and the Shepherdess, Knussen and the American soprano Lucy Shelton—who regularly partners with the British artist—are full of enthusiasm: this is Stravinsky in the round, never far from Rimsky-Korsakov, and always keeping a mischievous eye on Strauss and his Viennese colleagues.

This is a record to keep under one's pillow, an absolutely indispensable part of any Stravinsky collection. © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz

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Stravinsky: The Fairy's Kiss; Faun and Shepherdess op. 2; Ode (Elegiacal Chant)

Oliver Knussen

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Faun and Shepherdess op.2 (Igor Stravinsky)

La Bergère

Lucy Shelton

00:03:15

Igor Stravinsky, Composer - Oliver Knussen, Conductor, MainArtist - Lucy Shelton, Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestra, MainArtist - Sid McLauchlan, Producer - Aleksandr Pushkin, Author - Andrew Wedman, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel