Best "Sacre" to my mind is Rattle on "Rhythm Is It"-soundtrack. That one is much more intense than his CD recording with City of Birmingham Symphony - no wonder: this is Berlin Phil!! Second choice is the above mentioned Dutoit. Third choice is Mariss Jansons with Concertgebow, Gergiev with the Kirov is fourth, Tilson Thomas with SFS comes in fifth. I am not at all convinced by Strawinskys own recordings. He never was really a conductor, was he? And to know exactly what was in his mind when he composed it is by far not enough to conduct this piece!
The Rite of Spring
As the earth blooms and the sky sings, the mere thought of Spring has inspired poets and composers through the ages to celebrate the resurgence of life with sweet, bouyant thoughts. But not Igor Stravinsky. His 1912 Le Sacre de Printemps (“The Rite of Spring”) was inspired by a vastly different muse. Surely one of the most important works in the annals of art, its impact still reverberates across all types of music.
I like that quote from Peter Guttmann..
I have The Atlanta Symphony (Levi) and recently bought the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra SACD with Yuri Simonov. (Excellent performance and great sonics). I'd like to hear Bernsteins too. Do any of you have one you'd highly recommend. Thanks - Mark