Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring „Le sacre du printemps“ London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Eugene Goossens, Conductor 1 Part 1 16:48 2 Part 2 20:57 STRAVINSKY Probably no musical work of our time has translation of Stravinsky’s Russian title is not THE RITE OF SPRING created as much excitement and controversy The Rite of Spring, the name by which it is (LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS) as has Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Le Sacre du generally known, but Spring’s Consecration). SIR EUGENE GOOSSENS Printemps. It is doubtful, too, whether any He started the composition in 1912 at his CONDUCTING other composition of the twentieth century estate in Oustiloug, Russia, and completed THE LONDON SYMPHONY has exerted as profound an influence upon it early in 1913 in Clarens, Switzerland. ORCHESTRA modern composers as has this provocative Roerich designed the decor for the produc- score. Stravinsky has painted these Pictures tion of the ballet, which was to be given by of Pagan Russia, as he has subtitled the work, Diaghileff’s Ballets Russes. To Stravinsky’s with bold strokes on a huge orchestral can- dismay, Diaghileff assigned the choreogra- vas. Now, for the first time, the brilliant phy to his star dancer, Vaslav Nijinsky. While colors and startling rhythmic patterns have the composer had nothing but the greatest been reproduced with equally colorful and admiration for Nijinsky as a performer, he startling fidelity by Everest. found him almost impossible to work with as a choreographer, since he was quite igno- “One day, when I was finishing the last rant of the basic principles either of music pages of L’Oiseau de Feu in St. Petersburg,” or dance design. Nevertheless, many of the writes Stravinsky in his revealing autobiog- ideas compounded jointly by Nijinsky and raphy, “I had a fleeting vision which came to Stravinsky seem more suited to the choreo- me as a complete surprise, my mind at the graphic realization of the music than was the moment being full of other things. I saw in later, more abstract dance plan of Léonide imagination a solemn pagan rite: sage elders, Massine. seated in a circle, watched a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her Stravinsky scored Le Sacre du Printemps to propitiate the god of spring. Such was for a huge orchestra consisting of two flutes, the theme of the Sacre du Printemps. I must flute in G, two piccolos, four oboes (one confess that this vision made a deep impres- interchangeable with a second English sion on me, and I at once described it to my horn), English horn, three clarinets (one friend, Nicholas Roerich, he being a painter interchangeable with a second bass clarinet), who had specialized in pagan subjects. He clarinet in E flat, bass clarinet, four bassoons welcomed my inspiration with enthusiasm, (one interchangeable with a second contra- and became my collaborator in this creation. bassoon), contra-bassoon, eight horns (two In Paris I told Diaghileff about it, and he was interchangeable with Bayreuth tubas), four at once carried away by the idea. ...” trumpets, trumpet in D, bass trumpet, three trombones, two tubas, four kettledrums, The realization of the idea had to wait, small kettledrum, bass drum, cymbals, tam- however, until Stravinsky composed what bourine, antique cymbals, triangle, tam-tam, started out as a Konzertstück for piano and rape guero (scratcher) and strings. orchestra and ended up as his second great ballet Petrouchka (Everest LPBR 6033/SDBR The music of Le Sacre is extremely com- 3033). Once that was out of the way, he began plex, both rhythmically and harmonically. To work on Le Sacre du Printemps (the proper ears unattuned to the music of today, it can sound strange and forbidding. It was so far that way to put a stop to the noise. That is ahead of its time that it took nearly a quarter all I can remember about that first perform- of a century for the public at large to appre- ance. Oddly enough, at the dress rehearsal, ciate its barbaric splendor. Many millions of to which we had, as usual, invited a number words had to be written to explain its intri- of actors, painters, musicians, writers, and cacies to the uninitiated. Today, however, it the most cultured representatives of society, is listened to from a different vantage point, everything had gone off peacefully, and I was and this wonderfully imaginative music very far from expecting such an outburst.” thrills nearly everyone who hears it. Original Liner Notes Such was not the case at the hallet’s pre- miere, which took place at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris on May 29, 1913. The performers were Diaghileff’s Ballets Russes, with Pierre Monteux conducting and Nijinsky doubling in the roles of dancer and choreographer. Let the composer, again in his autobiography, describe what transpired: “The complexity of my score had demanded a great number of rehearsals, which Monteux had conducted with his usual skill and attention. As for the actual performance, I am not in a position to judge, as I left the auditorium at the first bars of the prelude, which had at once evoked deri- sive laughter. I was disgusted. These dem- onstrations, at first isolated, soon became general, provoking counter-demonstrations and very quickly developing into a terrific uproar. During the whole performance I was at Nijinsky’s side in the wings. He was standing on a chair, screaming sixteen, sev- enteen, eighteen they had their own method of counting to keep time. Naturally the poor dancers could hear nothing by reason of the row in the auditorium and the sound of their own dance steps. I had to hold Nijinsky by his clothes, for he was furious, and ready to dash on to the stage at any moment and create a scandal. Diaghileff kept ordering the electri- cians to turn the lights on or off, hoping in Some notes on the history of Everest Below is a graphic representation of this new sprocket gears engage these sprocket holes BELOCK Recording studios is utilized for Records and the digital remastering material. What you see here, your ears will affording a smoothness of motion that reduces recordings made anywhere in the world. By quickly verify when you listen to an EVER- “wow and flutter” to an absolute minimum. utilizing specially designed portable versions When Everest Records was founded by Harry EST recording. The film has another advantage in its great of EVEREST 35 mm equipment, EVEREST Belock in 1958 as a division of Belock Instru- tensile strength which effectively eliminates engineers are able to make recordings and ment Corp., the aim was to produce a cata- Notice that now EVEREST engineers have pitch changes due to “tape stretch”, a condi- maintain the rigid standards and excellence logue of stereo recordings of the highest pos- over 3 times the normal space available tion heretofore almost impossible to control. of quality available in the Studios. sible technical standard, with interesting and [than] on ¼” tape. This means distortion free, innovative classical repertoire played by some perfect sound. 35 mm magnetic film allows Drawing on the extensive experience in the The advanced engineering and special equip- of the best artists and orchestras. EVEREST engineers to make recordings with motion picture sound field BELOCK INSTRU- ment, in addition to meticulous attention MENT (of which EVEREST is a division), to detail, results in the EVEREST sound, a For the first Everest recording sessions in • No distortion from print through requested Westrex Corporation to build spe- sound that has been acclaimed as superb by 1958, an Ampex 300-3 half-inch three- • No distortion from lack of channel width cial equipment to EVEREST’S exacting critics and record enthusiasts throughout the channel recorder was used. Later on the label • Absolute minimum of “wow or flutter” specifications in order to accomplish these world. moved to use a Westrex 35 mm 3-track mag- • Highest possible signal to noise ratio advantages. This equipment includes the use netic film recorder, which had a wider possible • Greatest quality and dynamic range ever of special recording heads which afford com- dynamic range, less print-through, less tape recorded plete wide band frequency response beyond Executive Producer: Mark Jenkins for Countdown stretch and less ‘wow and flutter’, and which that normally specified in any present-day Media/Everest • Digital Remastering: Bernie was the basis for the highly acclaimed typical motion picture recording. It is of interest to Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, “Everest-sound”. With 35 mm magnetic film, the base mate- note, that when soundtracks of great motion Hollywood, CA, from the original analog tapes • rial on which the magnetic oxide is coated pictures originally recorded on 35 mm mag- Digital Transfers: Scott Sedillo for Bernie Grundman Mastering and Len Horowitz for History of For the process of digital remastering of the is five times thicker than conventional tape netic film are released as phonograph records, Recorded Sound • Additional Restoration Work 35 mm master tapes the original Westrex and is similar to the film used for motion pic- that normal technique is to re-record the and Re-Release Mastering Engineer: Lutz Rippe at 1551 machine was used for analog playback tures. This thickness permits the recording of sound from 35 mm magnetic film to conven- Countdown Media • Artwork preparation: Eckhard using modified new playback electronics and extremely high sound intensities without the tional tape. EVEREST, through its advanced Volk at Countdown Media • Digital Booklet: Dirk fitted with new playback heads. The output danger of layer-to-layer “print-through”. The processes and equipment, is the only record Böing, Martina Grüthling • Original Producer: Bert was captured in highest digital resolution width of 35 mm magnetic film is such that company able to transfer all Master Records Whyte for Everest Records • Original Recording of 192 kHz sampling rate and 24 bit word it can accommodate three channels, each of directly from the 35 mm magnetic film to the Engineer: Aaron Nathanson • Recording Location and Date: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London length using state-of-the-art converters.