Stravinsky: The Rite Of Spring
Part 1: The Adoration of the Earth:
Spring Round Dances
Igor Stravinsky (5 June1882 – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor. Stravinsky widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th Century. His compositional career has most definitely been noted for his stylistic diversity, and especially with this piece we are discussing here. We are looking at The Rite Of Spring conducted by Sir George Solti and Leonard Bernstein. A comparison between the stylistic differences between the two, what they bring to the podium individually as well as combined for Stravinsky’s works itself.
Listening to the entire piece initially I had felt that this was a section that I wanted to focus on doing a compare and contrast.
Taking this into consideration, I even went to far as to import both sections into Traktor software. Within Traktor you have the capability to load up to four tracks simultaneously. I only need two for this part of my process but the ability to have each section in a perfect side-by-side comparison was fantastic. This offered up the option of dissecting even further as I literally took the same section from two different conductors and listened to each in mini sections to help break it down even further. Lets get right into it.
SLXL
Right off the bat, you can hear a difference in timing. Bernstein’s performance is a touch slower but it almost gives it a more fluid performance to me. You can hear the same subtleties but there is just a smoother feel to his. If I had to answer a question on what I would prefer one to the other just off of this, I would say Bernstein’s because there is already a tremendous sense of anxiety coming from deep within the entire performance, and this seems to add an even greater heightened sense of turmoil to the section. Even the violin strings sound slightly different, not in the way that they are being performed, they do sound as if they carry the identical attack, but in their actual pitch.
Something I had to do, and this is just for my own listening experience, I had to pan to the right, Solti’s recording by 33% to give it a rounder balance in comparison to Bernstein’s recording. This isn’t crucial but it felt better when hopping back and forth (needle dropping) between the two compositions. Entering into the more dynamic section, roughly about 2 mins. & 12 sec. into the piece, the percussion in comparison is pretty identical; again it all comes down to a timing issue here. I regress back to my original statement; Bernstein’s has a stronger and more fluid feel throughout the entire piece. The brass performance in comparison to each, I would have to say that Leonard Bernstein has added more attack and it sounds as if there is more tone color to his orchestration. All in all I really liked both versions but I could possibly be more partial to Bernstein’s because it was my first listening experience with The Rite Of Spring. Possibly because I feel this entire composition has an extremely dynamic presence throughout the entire piece. There lays anxiety in a bed throughout every note and chord as well as existing in even the softest moments regardless of whether or not there was multiple instrumentation performing or just a violin and cello doing a call and response. However, I did feel that there was a better and more accurate recording of Solti’s performance, this still didn’t take away from my preference between the two, sometimes I find it hard to release the super critical audiophile within and just let myself listen. The entire piece is fantastic, and one thing I can compare the first initial listening experience to was quite like a moment of introducing dubstep to grandma and her taking it in and looking to me afterwards with this stunned look on her face and asking me, why did you make me listen to that? She appreciated the introduction but it was just a bit much for her ears. I can see it for what it is. An amazing revelation at the time, challenging the listener as well as the performer to capture its audience and really submerse them into an environment that pulls them so deep into the moment that you can actually imagine the scene that the composer is really trying to convey, and that’s the story that exists within the music.
