This is a good, if hardly necessary, release. In other words, there is nothing at all wrong with any of the performances, and if you want this coupling you will certainly enjoy the disc. It’s just that there are so many other fine versions of this music, from Reiner in The Fairy’s Kiss (RCA) to Fischer (Philips) in The Wooden Prince. That said, Hans Graf has the Houston Symphony playing very well, with gleaming brass and nimble strings in the Stravinsky, and plenty of atmosphere in the Bartók, which always strikes me as a shade overlong when played complete. It’s a bit like Stravinsky’s Firebird: there’s too much pantomime between the more extended passages, and the result has a certain “stop and go” quality that no performance has quite overcome outside of the theater.
The sonics are very good, though the amount of incidental noise suggests a live performance setting (the booklet doesn’t say) and is occasionally distracting in The Wooden Prince’s many soft passages. I wish I could work up greater enthusiasm here: the performances probably deserve it, but these just aren’t works that typically have collectors rushing out to own multiple versions, nor do they offer interpreters the kind of latitude that allows them to make a major, individual statement. If you adore this music, then by all means, indulge.
