Eloquence Classics

Some of Lorin Maazel’s first recordings were made for Deutsche Grammophon when he was merely 27. This collection presents vivid performances of three great twentieth-century ballet scores, all infused with the folk rhythms of their respective composers’ native lands – Falla’s Andalusia and Stravinsky’s Russia. Both composers also exploited the most sophisticated orchestral textures available to the late Romantics, creating virtuoso showpieces of kaleidoscopic variety. They are interpreted here by the young Maazel and his Berlin Radio Orchestra, in recordings whose orchestral splendor astounds the ear today just as the original releases dazzled critics and the public decades ago. ‘To achieve this level of fluency – to say nothing of the sheer élan and idiomatic awareness in the Berlin orchestra’s playing – Maazel clearly rehearsed the music with astonishing vigour and conducted it inspiringly. Even to our ears now, the way he confronts us with the pounding force of Stravinsky’s ostinatos is invigorating,’ writes Richard Morrison. Completing his survey of music from the early part of the twentieth century, recorded for DG with orchestras from Berlin, are recordings of music by Bartók made in 1979 and released internationally on CD for the first time.