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An album destined to be a landmark.

It is a stimulating album, a record that has great potential due to the work Le Sacre du Printemps by Igor Stravinsky. The interpretation belongs to the MusicAeterna Orchestra, led by the Russian of Greek origin conductor Teodor Currentzis. The album was met with much interest, especially due to the fact that the assembly and conductor mentioned previously have had a praised interpretation of Stravinsky's opus. Hence it is an album destined to become a landmark in the rich discography of Le Sacre du Printemps. We must mention the fact that this album was rewarded with the ECHO Klassik Award 2016 for The best recording of a work from the XX-XXI century.

MusicAeterna and Theodore Currentzis

The MusicAeterna Orchestra is one of the most interesting assemblies of its kind in Russia. It was founded in 2004 by Theodore Currentzis. Since then the orchestra has performed in many European musical centres like Vienna, Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Paris, Baden-Baden, Athens, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Perm. The assembly currently has an exclusive contract signed with Sony Classical. Among the notable discography achievements there is the album with works of Mozart Cosi fan tutte and The Marriage of Figaro, and a concert program consisting of works by Jean-Philippe Rameau. In the near future The MusicAeterna Orchestra and the conductor Teodor Currentzis have planned another recording of Mozart's compositions, the Don Giovanni opera.

Theodore Currentzis is the artistic director of The Opera and Ballet State Theatre in Perm - Russia and artistic director of MusicAeterna Orchestra, and MusicAeterna Chamber Choir; the latter being founded at the same time as the orchestra in 2004. During his artistic presence in Perm, Currentzis Theodore was given numerous awards. In 2005 he received the Golden Mask, a prize given in Russia for performances in the lyric theater. In 2013 he received four awards including the Best Conductor of Opera and Best Conductor of a Ballet Performance. In 2015 he was again declared Best Opera conductor from Russia.

Le Sacre du Printemps

And because we were talking about previous interpretations of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, it must be said that the MusicAeterna Orchestra and Teodor Currentzis have played on several occasions their version on the concert stage in Western Europe. A notable recent collaboration was that with Italian director Romeo Castellucci, who shaped an impressive staging of the work, which premiered in 2014 at the Festival Ruhrtriennale 2014 in Germany. The music, is in this case, the recorded version of this album which is part of the "Vote the record of the year 2016" campaign.

It is a recording of the score that was revised in 1947, which is a praised interpretation, although it does not have the same wild energy and credibility of the record from 2001 for example, a record of the Kirov Theatre Orchestra, under the lead of Valery Gergiev. In fact the interpretation of Theodore Curentzis and the MusicAeterna Orchestra is a middle ground between Gergiev's brutality and gentleness and precision of Pierre Boulez for example. Theodore Currentzis follows the path of authenticity, using trumpets, puts instrumentalists to accompany with interjections the delirious rhythms, and they enter into the trance of this whole ritual, creating the archaic decor Stravinsky would have wanted. Some say that is a predictable variant, with no surprises. On the other hand, what surprises could create a work that has long become a classic.

Overall it is an interpretation that deserves to be listened to on the 30th of September at 12:15 at CD Review