Robert Craft’s pursuit of textural clarity at sensible tempos yields mixed results on this disc. Petrushka works well. Precise rhythms and careful attention to instrumental balance, particularly in the harmonically piquant Russian Dance and the heavily scored Fourth Tableau, effectively capture the music’s characterful mix of folk-like charm and mechanical, toy sounds. The Philharmonia soloists also play very well. Unfortunately, The Firebird disappoints, with an Infernal Dance that isn’t terribly infernal, a scherzo that lacks pizzazz, and an apotheosis that just doesn’t come to life. In his original notes to this release in the late-1990s, Craft made much of his textural fidelity, and I can only applaud his efforts; but if you want to hear those extra on-stage trumpet blasts at the very end, there’s Dohnányi with the Vienna Philharmonic on Eloquence, which is just as inexpensive and totally fabulous (so is Dohnányi’s Petrushka, but both works come coupled to Bartók). So as much as I admire Craft as an interpreter, this isn’t one of his more successful releases.
