A virile Sinbad who anchored in Chicago ...

What surprises outset listening this record, it is the clarity of the sound from 1960, breathing between the desks, difficult challenge in this rich orchestration of brass and percussion, plus the strings forest. And the dynamic is reminiscent of the best vinyls. The booklet explains how the engineers chose a wide scene venue for promoting stereophonic effect, settling the three microphones by executing a transition pianissimo and fortissimo another '

1 - Brass attack us! Fritz Reiner presents us the portrait of a virile Sinbad. I do not know if you remember that old movie technicolor with Douglas Fairbanks in 1947, but a rather foppish hero ready to face thousand dangers for the sake of a pretty princess. Here it is exactly that, Mannerism and less. The chef takes a direction both fierce, to emphasize the adventurous side of the story, and undulating for us to sail on this sea. Through dialogues oboes and clarinets with swirling strings and interventions violin Solo Sidney Harth, you can sample this alternation between Eastern poetic sweetness and fury of the stormy orchestral developments exposing the boat Sinbad the elements and wind. Fritz Reiner plays the card of pure music. I spoke above of talents orchestrator Rimsky-Korsakov. The demonstration of his mastery of sound colors takes place from the opening bars.

2 - The solo violin and harp with simplicity and tenderness introduce the second movement. Fritz Reiner decided to contrast with the orchestral drawing force of this tale. There are between strings and woodwinds like a hide and seek game. It's very lively and quite justified for this story that evokes the misadventures of Prince Calendar, actually a nobleman who poses as a "Kalender" mid character magician mid fakir, a little smoothie. The orchestra bounces, joking, Reiner demonstrated unsuspected humor in this passage where the magician transvestite narrates events coming by interposed musical motifs. The coda is brillantissime skill and drama.

3 - the leader adopts a slow tempo to accompany the impulses of love Prince and Princess. The absence of pathos prevents this sensual passing sink into a junk eroticism, while maintaining a speech touching freshness. The sound of the strings remains tense, without vibrato, elegiac without overflowing. Everything seems playful, a teenagers game with iridescent colors made by wood. The central development evokes a party in a palace, but an intimate party. Reiner does not tempted by an orgy worthy of a peplum. Youth, joy and twilight of the East in a dozen minutes, the young nobles doze guided by a feverish violin solo. Beautiful!

4 - renowned energy and transparency of the orchestra of Chicago does not deny the party in Baghdad. The trumpets shine in a playful orchestra and disciplined to the extreme by the battered scathing its leader. One begins to wander through the bazaars and street magicians in a resolute sound intoxication, an intoxication of the sun where the Russian soul becomes palpable. Reiner does retracts any feature of the solo piccolo snare drum. The festival fades to transport us back on the boat Sinbad. The sea is stormy, the sea is unleashed in a cataclysm symphony dramatized by the trills of basses and the ultimate cymbal: boat smashes. But the tender leitmotif reappears to lead to a conclusion at once serene and nostalgic. Fritz Reiner does not unnecessarily take notes, balance and elegance of these phrases are magical.

The album is complemented by the song of the Nightingale Stravinsky captured in 1956. But that's another story looked like Scheherazade ...