The timely arrival of the Bernstein reissues has only served to reinforce my reaction to Dutoit's disc. I couldn't possibly make a general recommendation of the CBS coupling—the sound is much too variable: close and overbearing in the case of Music for strings, percussion and celesta, brittle and congested for Concerto for Orchestra—vintage 1959, and sounding it. But nor would I want to be without these often electrifying performances. Bernstein's innate theatricality, his fiery temperament, finds natural outlet in the grass-root origins of this music, not least of course the earthy, coarse-cut rhythmic elements. The scherzo and finale of Music for strings, percussion and celesta positively leap from the page. If only the recording were more sensitive to the mystery and shadow that are as much a part of this score (any dynamic below mezzo-piano is at something of a premium), then Bernstein would take some beating.
By contrast, of coursc, Dccca's new Dutoit disc sounds magnificent. That almost gocs without saying. The diaphanous other-worldly textures of Music for strings, percussion and celesta—the rippling celeste and stratospheric violins of the first movement coda, the sensual glissando effects of the third—really do work their magic; you feel the bass-drum, the thwack of Bartok's snap-pizzicatos, and even (alas), on one occasion, the creak of timpani pedals. The music-making, too, is, in a word, impeccable—as one might now anticipate from this orchestra and this conductor. One might also anticipate—and again be proven right—that Dutoit projects classical poise above hushed expectancy in his delivery of the work's opening viola line. And that is somehow indicative of the whole performance. The notes are stylishlv and. in the main, brilliantly dispatched, but something of their spirit fails to communicate. I've heard less accomplished but more exciting, more 'dangerous', accounts of the scherzo, and by the same token, the sinewy opening pages of the finale hardly set the pulse racing: too civilized by half with barely a whiff of their Magyar folkdance origins (readers in possession of Solti's LSO Decca or Reiner's RCA recordings on LP will know exactly what I mean). Dutoit is at his best in the third movement's sensuous 'music of the night', and he does make something quite sumptuous of Bartok's germinal 'fugue' theme as it returns harmonically enriched mid-way through the finale.
In the Concerto, Dutoit can boast what is now a world-class orchestra put impressively through their paces: as I write I'm thinking of the splendid jam ouree of brass counterpoint at the climax of the first movement, the elegant wind couplets of the second, the laconic clarinet which ushers in the Intermezzo's rude 'interruption', the elan of the string playing in the finale. But again, I cannot help but feel that Dutoit is selling the piece short on character. Is there not more wit to be found between the notes of the second movement's two-by-two games; a more intense heat to be generated in the anguished declamations which unsettle the Elegia's 'lake of tears' (the scoring always puts me in mind of Bluebeard), with this orchestra Dutoit could even have pushed the finale a little harder—particularly in the rugged fugal section. Unfortunately, I cannot unreservedly recommend either of the above-listed alternatives to Dutoit in this coupling. The Boulez/CBS performances are full of interest but sound disappointingly synthetic in their new CD format, Karajan's somewhat overblown DG readings have never convinced me. Solti's Chicago recording of the Concerto (also Decca, and available in two different couplings) is easily the best current bet on CD: until, that is, Decca reissue his LSO recording, preferably in a coupling with the LSO Music for strings, percussion and celesta. RCA have already transferred their incomparable Reiner performances to CD but as yet they are only available here as an American import ( 5604-2-RC).'