Antal Dorati - Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale/ Fireworks

That art cannot be mechanized, but demands freedom and belongs to all mankind is a lesson that had to be learned by the emperor of China in Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale. The emperor imprisoned a nightingale in a golden cage so that he alone could enjoy its song. An inventor's attempt to imitate the nightingale's song by means of a mechanical bird brought the emperor only a short-lived pleasure: the cogwheels wore down, and the bird's music became a farce. But it was not only the birdsong, which suffered. The emperor became ill and took to his bed. Only the song of the real nightingale can bring him back from death's door. Stravinsky set the fairytale to music in a symphonic poem which is filled with colorful sound of the Far East. Characteristic for the powerful musical language of this early work are reminiscences of stylistic elements from The Rite Of Spring and The Firebird. The repertoire on this LP is enhanced by a sonorous Scherzo, the mock tango, and the dramatic and far too rarely performed Etudes for Orchestra.