This intelligent coupling
of three Greek-inspired Stravinsky ballets
is so sensible and logical I’m surprised
it’s not been thought of before by the
record companies. The works are true
kindred spirits, from the ethereal beauty
of Apollo through to the thornier
serial dalliances of Agon, and
one would imagine that Robert Craft
should be the ideal man for the job.
It is my first encounter with the Craft
/Koch cycle that Naxos are re-issuing,
though if memory serves, some of them
had muted critical responses on their
original release.
The first impressions
are of a no-nonsense briskness of approach
which, coupled with a very weighty orchestral
sonority, makes a big impact, maybe
too big in the case of Apollo.
The gorgeous, deceptively simple C major
arpeggiated opening is more deftly handled
by Rattle (EMI, coupled with a visceral
Rite of Spring) who allows the
music slightly more breathing space.
Likewise, the sheer hugeness of string
sound in Variation d’apollon
(tr. 7) may surprise those brought up
on Stravinsky’s own sweetly voiced Columbia
Symphony recording (Sony) but it is
mightily exciting. Craft seems to be
eschewing any sense of neo-classical
lightness, and the clever syncopations
in the coda (tr.9) show how a virtuosic
LSO follow him all the way.
Orpheus responds
better to Craft’s full blooded treatment.
He is slightly less aggressive in the
beautiful descending octatonic scale
that opens the work, letting the music
unfold more naturally. A cool, plaintive
quality, entirely suitable for the music,
pervades the performance and one hopes
that this budget disc will encourage
people to discover what is still a relatively
neglected major Stravinsky work.
Wedged between these
two obvious relations is Stravinsky’s
last ballet, rated by many as his last
masterpiece. Agon is a marvellous
score, full of quirky invention and
amazingly ingenious orchestration. Simon
Rattle used the opening (and closing)
fanfare as the signature tune for his
Channel 4 documentary ‘Leaving Home
– A Conducted Tour of 20th
Century Music’ and I like his own personal
description of the piece as ‘…a machine,
but a machine that thinks. It is like
a pocket-sized history of music’. Craft’s
is a very swift and energised machine,
so much so that things nearly trip up
occasionally (try the harp in track
16’s Galliard). But generally
the St. Luke’s band is skilful enough
to bring everything off wonderfully,
and this version is generally better
played and certainly in better sound
than Stravinsky’s own Los Angeles version,
one of the earliest on his Sony box
and made only days after the premiere
in 1957.
It’s probably Craft’s
generally fast tempos that mean all
three ballets can be accommodated generously
on this single disc. Things never get
out of hand, but if you are used to
more relaxed readings, be prepared.
I’m already of the opinion that Craft’s
refusal to linger pays dividends, and
the sheer power of the readings, allied
to a quite up-front sound, links the
works more readily to Stravinsky’s earlier
style. There are quite a few different
couplings for all three ballets, but
for a fiver and all on one disc, this
is virtually self-recommending.
Tony Haywood
London Symphony Orchestra/Robert Craft 
