Stravinsky’s 1945 suite from The Firebird remains the best way to experience this ballet. It eliminates all of the dull bits, retains the good stuff, and what the reduced orchestration lacks in sheer richness it more than gains in clarity. Josep Pons and the Orquesta de Granada play the thing magnificently, with all the precision and brilliance that the music requires. Right from the very opening Dance of the Firebird, Pons reveals his modus operandi: for the most part moderate tempos, but at all times tight ensemble and hair-trigger rhythmic precision. One exception to this rule: the Danse Infernale, which sacrifices none of the accuracy but moves along at an exciting clip, as it surely must.
Jeu de cartes, one of the composer’s neo-classical masterpieces, makes an outstanding coupling. Taken together, these two works offer the listener a widely ranging survey of Stravinsky’s various musical styles as applied to the dance. Once again, the performance triumphs. It has a nicely dry quality, like good champagne. Listen to Pons and his players toss off the witty allusions to Rossini’s Barber of Seville Overture and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in the ballet’s third part (or “deal” as the composer would have it). The musicians sound as though they’re truly enjoying themselves, and both here and in The Firebird, the principal wind players (oboe and flute in particular) really shine.
Finally, the recorded sound strikes exactly the right balance between detail and atmosphere. The quiet opening of The Firebird, so often an indistinct (or even inaudible) blur in other recordings, caresses the ear like dark velvet. It’s that tactile, but there’s no artificial spotlighting at all, and the big climax at the very end opens out effortlessly. Similarly, Jeu de cartes emerges from the speakers appropriately cool but never cold or harsh, as happens when the engineers mike the wind section too closely. In short, although it comes from an unexpected source, this disc represents a major addition to the already ample Stravinsky discography, and notwithstanding the fine recent release of both works by Robert Craft on Koch (whose recording also offers an excellent Symphony in Three Movements), you should consider hearing Pons & Co.
