Anyone fortunate enough to have heard conductor Pierre Boulez lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra through Bela Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle" last month in Ann Arbor can attest to the exceptional quality of this marriage of conductor and orchestra. A long string of vibrant recordings attests to the same charisma, and a terrific new all-Stravinsky disc (FOUR STARS out of four stars, CSO-Resound), headlined by the neoclassic "Pulcinella" and the craggy Symphony in Three Movements, offers fresh evidence.What is so magical about the chemistry between Boulez, who turns 85 next month, and the Chicagoans is the way their strengths compliment each other by repairing their Achilles' heels. A modernist icon, Boulez has a legendary gift for rendering a score with striking transparency, balance, precision and intellectual pop -- qualities that focus and discipline the CSO's famously muscular sound, reining in what can easily become too much of a good thing.On the other hand, the orchestra's brawny expression pulls Boulez out of his shell, promoting his most expressive work. That's why I've always preferred Boulez's partnership with Chicago to his work with the Cleveland Orchestra, whose natural fastidiousness can turn overly dry and fussy under him.Taped in early 2009, the Stravinsky disc bursts with coiled energy and vibrant color. For a quick snapshot of the Boulez effect, listen to the high-wire intensity of the first movement of the symphony, where in both full ensemble outbursts and lighter syncopated passages for strings, winds and piano, the clarified tonal blend allows you to hear each instrument and the gestalt. As the movement continues, a churning undertow, impeccably enunciated, seems to stalk the tart melodic lines above. The impact is electric.In a revealing interview in the CD booklet, Boulez calls "Pulcinella" a game, and there is a winsome, playful quality to the performance that belies the conductor's reputation as an ideologue. What, revolutionaries can't have fun, too? The reading of the complete score includes the rarely heard songs, sung stylishly by Roxana Constantinescu, Nicholas Phan and Kyle Ketelsen. The orchestra plays like aces.Boulez is smitten with the early Four Etudes, especially the eerie and eccentric orchestrations of these sui generis miniatures. (They are expansions of Stravinsky's Three Pieces for String Quartet and a stray piano work.) In the interview, Boulez makes clear his long-held disappointment that Stravinsky never followed through on the forward-looking implications of these works. They still sound like almost nothing else -- dark, biting, satiric, strange and ever-modern. --Detroit Free Press, Mark Stryker, February 14, 2010Crisp and muscular, Stravinsky's neo-classic commission for the New York Philharmonic was his first major work after settling in the United States. Inspired by wartime experiences, but also including themes from an incomplete piano concerto and an aborted film score, its textures are rich and inviting, and Boulez knows its measure. --Classical Minnesota Public Radio, Michael Barone, March 4, 2010Grade: A- On the verge of his 85th birthday, Pierre Boulez continues to apply a special touch to works both old and new. This Stravinsky disc with the Chicago Symphony finds Boulez in slightly mellower form than in decades past in terms of rhythm and tempo. But the performances are typically organic, transparent and sonorous, with stupendous playing by the Chicago musicians, especially in a complete version of "Pulcinella." --Cleveland.com, Donald Rosenberg, February 14, 2010It may seem peculiar to some listeners to find Pierre Boulez at the helm for this CSO Resound recording of Igor Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements, the Four Études, and Pulcinella, because it was the polystylism that these works represent which the conductor once vociferously railed against. But that was Boulez in his younger days, when he was still a fiery polemicist and a purist of the avant-garde, with an axe to grind against any who would not yield to the serial juggernaut, including the chameleon-like Stravinsky, who employed stylistic diversity as a major aspect of his art and resisted twelve-tone experimentation until his later years. Decades later, it seems Boulez has mellowed, for it is a fairly sympathetic interpreter who leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in these works, and it appears that the neo-Classicism of the symphony, the Rococo pastiches of Pulcinella, and the pseudo-primitivism of the Four Études no longer seem to cause him any aesthetic discomfort. It is even possible that Boulez has found this music more appealing over time, if only for the reason that both he and Stravinsky have famously shared a resistance to emotion and favored a clinical musical sensibility. No one would consider these pieces deep expressions, and while the performances here are muscular, sharp, crisp, and clean, they are utterly devoid of sentimentality. Even Pulcinella, which has potential for some sweetness and pathos, is delivered with a straight face, and the close attention to every detail shows that Boulez views it less as a charming neo-Classical ballet and more as a study of Stravinsky's idiosyncratic methods of fragmentation and recomposition. Of the three performances, Pulcinella comes across with the fullest ensemble sound and the clearest reproduction, but it is not as vivacious as it should be. The symphony has great energy and pugnacity going for it, but its sound is a little muddy and opaque. The Four Études offer the best balance between a lively performance and terrific reproduction, and in some ways this overlooked classic is the most compelling on the album, inviting repeated listening. --Allmusic.com, Blair Sanderson, February 2010Listeners looking for musical excitement will find plenty of it in the new Chicago Symphony Orchestra recording of Stravinsky - conducted by Pierre Boulez, who as he nears 85 puts across more brightness and intensity than many conductors half his age. Boulez has strong feelings about Stravinsky that he never hesitates to express - he is not sure whether the fourth of the Four Études even belongs in the set, for example, and does not think much of the second movement of the Symphony in Three Movements. But his conducting on this CD - of the works he likes less as well as those he prefers - is so finely honed, so convincing, that he gives all the pieces their best possible chance of capturing listeners. The Symphony in Three Movements seems more modern and forward-looking here than it often does, with considerable angularity in the themes and constant forward propulsion. The Four Études manage to be humorous, witty, rhythmically striking and genuinely odd - although, yes, the fourth comes across as the lightest of them and somehow the least satisfying. As for Pulcinella, here performed complete with vocal sections, it is an absolute gem, sparkling with wit and filled with vivid orchestral touches that Boulez brings out with tremendous attentiveness - and, often, the help of the Chicago Symphony's very fine brass. This live recording (available in either SACD or standard CD format) can certainly be looked at as a tribute to Boulez' 85th birthday (he was born on March 26, 1925). But what makes it special is not the timing of its release or the age of its conductor, but the splendid understanding evinced by its music-making. --Infodad.com, February 18, 2010Pierre Boulez's recent tenure as the Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra resulted in a number of memorable performances of a variety of works. Last season he led concerts of music by Stravinsky, and this recent issue on the CSO's Resound label makes available recordings of three outstanding works. The Symphony received a classic reading by Boulez, with the angular rhythms of the opening movement vividly rendered by the cohesive ensemble of the CSO. Stravinsky comes off well in this recording, with Boulez achieving the distinctive sounds with voicings that make the scoring full audible. The dynamic levels are noticeably clear, with the softer passages emerging with welcome clarity. Unlike some of the early recordings of this piece, the present issue benefits from the fullness of the ensemble's excellent string section, which interacts well with the other sections of the orchestra. The piano is present without sounding over-miked or otherwise altered to be audible.The second movement stands apart with its more elegiac quality, Boulez bringing out the thematic ideas with a thoughtful line. Without this approach to the second movement, the entire piece can fall flat. Instead, the contrast works well in this performance in demonstrating a different side of the affect behind the Symphony. Some of the jazz-inspired rhythms echo the style of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G minor, but such allusions are fleeting in this well-shaped interpretation. With the third movement, Boulez delivers a powerful reading that works because of the pacing of the opening gesture. By holding back a bit, Boulez allows the sonorities to ring nicely. After the introduction, the faster sections benefit from a similar restraint in the dynamic levels in this precise reading. As the movement builds, Boulez achieves a satisfying conclusion, with the ample sound of the CSO reserved for the final tutti.A welcome part of the recording is the rarely heard set of Four Études, a piece Stravinsky began in 1914 and completed in 1929. These studies offer glimpses of ideas Stravinsky pursued at various times in the fifteen years it took to complete the work, with some of the ideas resembling works he explored more fully in those years, like Petrushka, and other pieces. Boulez makes the most of the Four Études, which benefits from the intensity he gives to the Cantique, and the symphonic textures of Madrid. The latter evokes the idiom Stravinsky would pursue in the Symphony in Three Movements, albeit with some touches of local color in allusions to typically Spanish gestures within the overall structure of the movement.At the core of this recording is the full score of Pulcinella, a work heard too often as a symphonic suite without the vocal movements. The complete sung ballet is present here, and it is an outstanding interpretation of the piece, which benefits from the balanced textures and carefully voiced sonorities found in the score. The second movement is attractive for the effective oboe playing of Eugene Izotov and the thoughtful phrasing of tenor Nicholas Phan. Soprano Roxana Constantinescu is similarly impressive in her aria "Contento forse", which evokes the eighteenth-century style of Stravinsky's source within its modern context. The third vocalist in this work, baritone Kyle Ketelsen is solid throughout, especially the first piece, "Conquesto paroline", in which his even range and consistent articulation allow the text to sound clearly through his dramatic reading of the aria. The trio which follows shows the fine ensemble that sets this particular recording apart from others. The operatic qualities of the piece emerge easily, especially toward the conclusion, which also benefits from a warm recording level.In the orchestral pieces, Boulez balances his sense of the structure with careful attention to the details of scoring. The chamber-music textures that are essential to Stravinsky's score are full and rich, while the tuttis are sonorous without overbalancing the textures. The brass sonorities fit well into the larger aural image, with the strings always solid and resonant. These elements are notable in the tarantella, where the repeated figures also have a subtle dynamism as Boulez shapes the work. Overall this recording is all the more impressive for being taken from live performances, which point to the quality of music-making offered by the CSO and represented well here. This recording is a fine addition to the Stravinsky discography for the soloists, orchestra and, especially, the fine leadership of Pierre Boulez. This is an excellent addition to the already impressive CSO Resound series. --MusicWeb International, James L. Zychowicz, August 2010Pierre Boulez, who turns 85 next month, is one of the all-time great interpreters of Stravinsky, the 20th century's signature composer. Boulez's famous ear remains incredibly acute, and this live recording with the Chicago Symphony bursts with muscular precision. It includes excellent performances of the boldly rhythmic Symphony in Three Movements (a huge influence on John Adams) and the atmospheric, rarely heard Four Etudes. The disc also presents the full score of Stravinsky's commedia dell'arte ballet "Pulcinella," including vocal numbers. By request, the composer based the ballet's tunes and forms on motifs from the Italian Baroque, and the experience kick-started his long neoclassical period. Not all the vocal soloists are appealing (tenor Nicholas Phan can be a trial), but they blend nicely. The Chicagoans bring Stravinsky's myriad colors to vivid life, and the audiophile recording captures a huge range of depth and detail. --The Star-Ledger, Bradley Bambarger, February 19, 2010Rating: 5 stars Nice to see the CSO-Resound series of discs in SACD, for a bit there it looked like they were giving up on SACD. This is not the usual Pucinella Suite, but the original version with three vocal soloists singing various love songs in Italian. There are complete translations in the note booklet - thank you. Pulcinella was credited for many decades as Stravinsky's reimagining the music of Pergolesi, but only recently did musicologists discover that the Baroque melodies Stravinsky adopted were not by Pergolesi, but by the much-less-well-known Italian composer Carlos Ignazio Monza. (That's not even mentioned in the note booklet.)These are the perfect Stravinsky works to benefit from Pierre Boulez' baton, being as how they are from the strongly neoclassic, very dry and precise period of the composer, and that is the usual conducting style of Boulez. Aside from the nice melodies I had not paid much attention to earlier recordings of Pulcinella in the instrumental suite form, but this version is a complete delight in every way. I especially liked the couple of short contributions by bass-baritone Ketelsen. Boulez in his included interview compares the original musical themes to being like an old monument that you paint over in vivid colors so you don't see the history so much, just the colors.The Four Etudes were composed shortly after Stravinsky's big success de scandal with The Rite of Spring. They continue more in their vein than in the neo-classical. The Symphony in Three Movements was a 1946 commission from The New York Philharmonic. The composer called it his "war symphony" - the first movement inspired by a documentary on Japanese scorched earth tactics in China and the last movement dealing with goosestepping German soldiers and the success of the allies.  Part of an abandoned piano concerto is worked into the opening movement. The work is much more chromatic and even sharply atonal than his earlier Symphony in C, but also more neoclassical. Its startling finish with a big Hollywood-style chord is one of my personal favorites moments in all of Stravinsky, but the entire work held together and had much more developmental interest for me than any other recorded performance of it I have previously heard. --Audiophile Audition, John Sunier, January 27, 2010The ballet Pulcinella was the first of the neoclassical works Stravinsky wrote following The Rite Of Spring, and seems by comparison a step back, decorous but mannered even in this interpretation by Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The earlier Four Études are mildly diverting but the revelation here is the Symphony In Three Movements, Stravinsky's first major composition following his emigration to America. The animated urban bustle prefigures a generation of movie scores, with its urgent rythyms, exclamatory flourishes and suspenseful musical narratives negotiated expertly here by Boulez without endangering the unity or character of the work. --Independent, February 12, 2010The majority of live concert performances issued so far on the CSO Resound label have been conducted by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink, but this very fine new Stravinsky recording is directed by that other distinguished octogenarian, Pierre Boulez, the orchestra's Conductor Emeritus.The choice of works is a typical Boulez one, combining both rare and more familiar Stravinsky into an intelligently planned and entertaining programme. Boulez has recorded all of these works before, and in the case of the Four Études, with this very orchestra back in 1992. This new issue will probably represent his final commercially recorded thoughts on these pieces and for that reason alone it is indispensable.The conductor's ambivalent attitude to Stravinsky's move from earlier more `nationalistic' works to neo-classicism is already well documented, and in a conversation with Philip Huscher, the orchestra's programme annotator, reproduced in the accompanying booklet, he reiterates his view that the neo-classical works that follow Pulcinella are contrived and lack spontaneity. Perhaps this is why Boulez's account of the `Symphony in Three Movements' that opens the disc strikes me as fractionally less convincing than the two works that follow. It is full of the textural clarity and fastidious care for orchestral balances that has always been a hallmark of a Boulez performance and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's playing is magnificent. The only thing lacking is the adrenalin thrill usually engendered by, for instance, the striking thrust of the first movement's opening pages. The same is true of the rather ponderous start to the finale. The central movement, however, is superb; the conductor's flowing tempo allows time to appreciate the cultured Chicago wind playing. Special praise in all three movements must also be given to the incisive playing of pianist Mary Sauer.Boulez obviously has a special affection for the `Four Études' and lavishes as much care on these four miniatures as he does on the two larger works. The first three of these were originally written for string quartet and later orchestrated. Each brief étude has its own unique and quirky character, while sharp Stravinskyian wit and humour abound throughout their brief time span.The music of Stravinsky's 1920 commedia dell'arte ballet `Pulcinella' is often most heard in the concert hall as the suite that the composer extracted from it in 1922 and later revised. Enjoyable though that suite is, the complete ballet is a far more worthwhile prospect, containing as it does so much extra attractive music and brilliant vocal parts for three soloists. The complete `Pulcinella' recorded here is absolutely marvellous in every way. Boulez displays an uncharacteristic relaxed warmth and affection for the piece, while the Chicago Symphony Orchestra respond to his masterly direction with both unfailingly expressive playing and absolute precision. The choice of three young soloists, Roxana Constantinsecu, Nicholas Phan and Kyle Ketelsen for the arias, is equally inspired. All three have fresh appealing voices and project their singing with both firmness and exemplary diction. Pierre Boulez's new performance of this delicious score is not to be missed.The recording and audio post-production by Polyhymnia is un-glamorised and veracious. The surround channels add some welcome ambience to a quite closely miked sound without masking its exceptional clarity. The lack of both audience noise and applause completes one's enjoyment.Altogether this is treasurable disc from the most iconoclastic composer/conductor of our time. --SA-CD.net, Castor, February 3, 2010