Dennis Russell Davies, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester - Stravinsky: Orchestral Works (2005)

If one considers that this 2005 CD presents music written in the early to middle twentieth century, and the latest of these is a "recomposition" of three Renaissance madrigals, then it seems a most peculiar offering in ECM's New Series line -- certainly important for anyone interested in modern music but decidedly not the cutting-edge fare this label usually delivers. Igor Stravinsky's jaunty Danses Concertantes (1942), the dryly humorous Concerto in D (1946), and the stately Apollon Musagète (1927) are all neo-Classical in style and parodistic in attitude; Monumentum pro Gesualdo di Venosa (1960) is as much Stravinsky's in its quirky orchestration as it is Gesualdo's in its eccentric counterpoint and harmony. Since these works are quite familiar with audiences, and have long been established as classics, there is nothing especially new here, except for the extraordinarily lively performances by Dennis Russell Davies and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, who make this music feel newly minted -- at least in the sense that vivid playing and buoyant energy make any music fresh and vital. Add to this wonderful reproduction, particularly the warm and resonant sound in Apollon Musagète, and it seems that quibbling over what qualifies as "new" is, in the end, just a hobgoblin of small-minded criticism. If this superb CD attracts more listeners -- and it should -- then ECM made the right call.