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Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring; Stokowski: Bach Transcriptions
Montreal-born conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin consistently conducts with illuminating authority. His reading of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring complements his penchant for aggressive, vivid, and precise sonority; the performance is equal parts ferocity and panache. The Rite is here paired with the deluxe Bach orchestral transcriptions by Leopold Stokowski, the most famous of which — the “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” — most will recognize from its appearance in Fantasia. While the transcriptions sound as though they were originally designed to titillate the Gilded-Age heirs and heiresses in the 1920’s Philadelphia crowd, they are retro-fabulous in the best way possible. Historical-performance enthusiasts will either look on in horror or give in to the mayhem.