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Looking for "the best" recording in great works of classical music is a misguided quest; I have learned that myself long time ago.
It's like trying to find the "best sunset"... there is not one "best sunset", though of course there are many wonderful ones, and some that may be hidden by rain.
If a piece of classical music is truly great, it reveals its greatness often once you hear it differently. I mean, I have easily a dozen Beethoven cycles and they all bring something different to the table.
Now Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps is not quite as multifacetted as a Beethoven Symphony, it's more straightforward, but it's still worthwile to consider a few different performances and what they do.
I just looked through my own recordings (and I've heard some more performances), my first one was Leonard Bernstein, that "introduced" me to this piece of music.
But I've got a few picks:
My favorite is Esa-Pekka Salonen with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra on DG.
If you are still looking for "best" (yeah, I know this thread is old, but can the quest for the best ever be over), I'd say it's about as "best" as can be. It's violent, it's precise, it's clear as glass and wow, do those percussions pack some punch. Very well recorded in Disney's then brand new concert hall. Should be hard to top this one.
I actually put this on years ago when we had a couple over as guests, after some whine, someone asked for music, and I asked what, and they said, more jokingly, "Le Sacre du Printemps"... and who am I to argue... we actually played the whole thing through. Was a cool evening...
So this is my "reference recording".
But there is more.
Pierre Boulez with the Cleveland Orchestra on DG. Boulez doesn't perform "Le Sacre du Printemps", he dissects it. Every note, every bar, every detail is there. It's Stravinsky under the microscope. It's the type of recording best suited if you have the score in hand and want to check each and every instrument and note... yep, it's all there, crystal clear, razor sharp. It's the most analytical "Le Sacre du Printemps".
And last but not least, a completely different take:
Herbert von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic, his second recording from 1977 (though it's not much different from his first.) His first one was famously criticized by Stravinsky himself, who found it "too polished". Stravinsky said: "I doubt whether The Rite can be satisfactorily performed in terms of Herr von Karajan's traditions. I do not mean to imply that he is out of his depths, however, but rather that he is in my shallows -- or call them simple concretions and reifications. There are simply no regions for soul-searching in The Rite of Spring."
Karajan's second recording in 1977 went on to be even more "polished". It is an luxuriously refined and cultured take on "Le Sacre", for the folks who drive to their pagan festival dressed in a tux and expect valet parking for their Bentleys. Of course, cultured refinement isn't what Stravinsky had in mind, so I would not pick this as a "first choice", but it's a highly interesting alternative choice. Sweeping, dramatic, definitely exciting and by far the most beautiful version of "Le Sacre du printemps". Sound is lush, vintage analog sound (I have the DG 24-Bit/96 kHz Download from Qobuz, which comes with a digital booklet.)
Bonus mention:
Le Sacre du Printemps, version for two pianos. Performed by Alice Sara Ott & Francesco Tristano.
Highly interesting how well the Le Sacre still works when it's stripped of all orchestral ornemantation. Stravinsky composed the piano version mainly for rehearsal, but it's quite powerful on its own. This performance really leans into it, it is primal, almost like a techno-punk driven performance. Pretty cool stuff, and again, certainly worth it if the composition interests you.
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I grew up on the composer’s Columbia SO recording so that one is something of a reference point. I still think it’s got a clarity and directness that some others lack. Bernstein’s legendary NY recording has already been rightly praised, as well as Muti’s extraordinary Philadelphia disc. I wish Andrew Litton had recorded his performance with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra because hearing that live was my favorite of them all.
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It's amazing the times we live in, that we have access to all that wonderful music.
I don't have the Ozawa version myself, but I have heard it and it's an exciting performance, no doubt.
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If I posted this before, with apologies (did a quick read through and didn't see anything from me). The only recording I own of "The Rite of Spring" is the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez that was released on Columbia circa 1969 (I think?). I first had it on LP in high school, then later on CD. It has that glorious Columbia sound -- very brilliant, upfront, and crystal clear.
A few years ago I tracked down the recording on SACD from Japan, and it is really fabulous. The whole recording just glistens and glows with a fierce clarity -- almost frightening at times in its precision and power. So that's my favorite!
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