Presto Editor's Choice
March 2023

Orchestre de Paris, Klaus Mäkelä

Klaus Mäkelä brings the Orchestre de Paris to Decca Classics for a major new album of Stravinsky’s most iconic ballet scores. The album represents Mäkelä’s first recording with his French orchestra, which will be followed by a further Ballet Russes release in 2024 featuring Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Debussy’s Jeux and L’Apres midi d’une faune.

Klaus Mäkelä has electrified the musicians and audiences of the Orchestre de Paris since the start of his Music Directorship in September 2021. One of the major projects of his second season at the Philharmonie de Paris was a traversal of Stravinsky’s pivotal ballet scores The Firebird and The Rite of Spring that proved anything but routine. The performances captured live on Decca’s new release carry the combination of intensity, intelligence and authority on which the young conductor is building his extraordinary career.

"The young Finn gets the balance between sleek polish and raw energy absolutely spot-on in both works on his debut recording with the Paris orchestra. There's a gorgeous, vibrant sheen to the string sound in the *Rite*'s 'Rondes printanières' and 'Cercles mysteriéux des adolescentes' and the 'Danse de la terre' zips along like a mint-condition sports car, throwing the primal menace of the 'Cortège du sage' and of Kastchei's music from *The Firebird* into sharper relief than ever." - Katherine Cooper, Presto Music, March 2023.