Le Sacre Du Printemps (2006)

"[Esa-Pekka Salonen] recorded The Rite of Spring previously [...], but this [performance] has just that much more bite and savagery [...]. Indeed, the playing of the Los Angeles Philharmonic is pretty amazing throughout, with well-nigh unbelievable clarity in the polyrhythmic complexities of the Entry of the Sage, but also in the gentler washes of color that open Part Two. The Miraculous Mandarin Suite, that other "primitivist" masterpiece, makes an ideal coupling, and the performance is no less splendid. The solo clarinet is appropriately seductive, the entrance of the Mandarin is chilling, and the "chase" fugue speeds along at an impressive clip, rising to an absolutely shattering climax. Including the original version of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain also was an inspired idea. This bit of musical barbarism is very much the 19th-century forbear of its two 20th-century cousins, and Salonen makes no effort to smooth over its rough edges." (David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday)