Magazine Classica,
September 2015

by Stéphane Friédérich 

Inclassable

Baffling, staggering even, Evgeny Svetlanovs version defies classification. From the first notes, a sense of menacing doom, irremediable chilliness. The hardness of the orchestra, the live is excellent, is a powerful affirmation of the writing impulse. The hysterical dimension of the partition is revealed here like nowhere else. “We alternate between the most electrifying tension and the most fatalistic abandon” in an “Onslaught of violence brought on by a concertante trumpet solo”. We witness a titanic combat on which the orchestra seems to stake its very existence. A vital, irrepressible sense of urgency. The last two crescendos, separated by an immense silence, and the power of the ultimate, seemingly endless, chords “come together as a gesture in the face of an infinite horizon”. Yes, really, this is one of the greatest concerts in the history of music recordings.

You can listen to the “The Poem of Ecstasy” conducted by Evgeny Svetlanov in 1968 in London on the home page of the site.