Two knowing takes on the recent bonanza of Rite of Spring reissues: Russell Platt, on the New Yorker website, and Sedge Clark, on his Musical America blog. See also Phil Kline's Ten Essential Rite Recordings. If pressed to pick my own favorites, I'd be inclined, at least as of this morning, toward Markevitch's 1959 recording, Stravinsky's 1960 version, MTT in Boston, and Esa-Pekka Salonen with the LA Phil. A footnote: longtime readers may recall that Lorin Maazel's peculiar treatment of the 11/4 bar of the Rite, mentioned by Sedge, figured prominently in the glorious Arnie Schoenberg parody.
