Prokofieff - Lieutenant Kije, Op.60, Stravinsky - Song of the Nightingale (Fritz Reiner/CSO, 1957) 24-Bit/96-kHz Vinyl Rip

Kijé is from the mainstream Prokofiev stable: folk tunes scored with great invention and combined with sections of sarcasm and wit. The Stravinsky tone poem, Song of the Nightingale, is music taken from his opera, The Nightingale. It is a score of great brilliance and demands the utmost virtuosity from every player. Here, under the watchful eye of Fritz Reiner, the Chicago Symphony delivers the goods. The score receives playing of both great delicacy and power. Kijé and Song of the Nightingale receive wonderful interpretations from Fritz Reiner, a conductor with more tricks up his sleeve than most. Special mention must be made of two particular orchestral contributions: Adolf Herseth’s trumpet playing in Kijé and Donald Peck’s fluting as the Nightingale are simply spectacular. It doesn’t get any better.
As for the recording? Fabulous! Nightingale shimmers and sparkles, yet bellows when the score dictates. It will leave you awed and exhausted. The recording of Kijé displays the wonderful Orchestra Hall in all its glory. The snare drum adds a little bit of extra dimension as its rolls reverberate around the back of the stage. The bass is very deep, with transients from quick tone bursts knife-edged yet easy on the ear. The recording’s clarity also helps in the Prokofiev. The placement of the offstage trumpet just outside the left hand entrance door to the stage sounds ethereal.
(Anthony Kershaw, audiophilia classic, 2009)


Track Listing:

1. Prokofieff - Lieutenant Kije, Op.60
Performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fritz Reiner
- The Birth of Kije
- Romance
- Kije's Wedding
- Troika
- The Burial of Kije

2. Stravinsky - Song of the Nightingale
Performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fritz Reiner