GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Musical Discussions
In the Thread: The “Right of Spring” – eventually!!!

Post Subject: Muti rite of spring on mofiPosted by steverino on: 5/25/2009

Romy wrote " The performance was by Philadelphia Orchestra lead by Riccardo Muti. I did not have this recording before. I do not know how Muti’s version is interesting among other performances of this peace – the “Right of Spring” never was anything that I cared. Still, I later was playing the fragments I managed to record and I loved it more and more. (I will get this CD)

The Muti recording of Rite of Spring has a Mobile Fidelity pressing as well as EMI Angel. It is the best sonic recording of the piece ever in my view. Many recordings of Rite are simply awful in sonic terms and this is a work which demands some reasonable level of audio fidelity to hear correctly. More generally I feel that poor recordings disproportionately negatively affect modern (dissonant) music. The recordings strip out all of the overtones which permit the dissonant harmonies to blend better in the concert setting. In contrast romantic and classic works have so much harmonic padding or clarity that they survive even in mediocre recordings. Listen to the Muti Rite then the one by Boulez on Columbia. The performances are both good in my view but the terrible Columbia recording kills the piece.

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