Classical CDs Weekly: Stravinsky, Weinberg, Igor Levit | reviews, news & interviews Classical CDs Weekly: Stravinsky, Weinberg, Igor Levit
Classical CDs Weekly: Stravinsky, Weinberg, Igor Levit
Colourful ballets, neglected chamber music and a great German pianist s lockdown album
by Graham RicksonSaturday, 12 December 2020
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko (Onyx)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko (Onyx)
Petrushka is usually played in the 1947 revision, so it’s a pleasure to hear the 1911 original. The musical material is identical, though the later version’s sharp glitter is less apparent; this
Petrushka looks back as much as it looks forward. Vasily Petrenko’s Liverpool recording is a triumph; it’s sharply played, neatly characterised and full of life. Think thick oil paint rather than neat line drawing. There’s a wealth of detail that emerges as if newly minted: the contrabassoon grunts heard when the