Not generally being a fan of “Suites from ...”, I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed Jukka-Pekka Saraste’s skilful 29-minute extension of the second – and longer – of Bartok’s own Wooden Prince orchestral suites. Most of the score’s best music is included, not least the Prelude, the first Interlude, the “Dance of the Trees”, the “Dance of the Princess”, the “Dance of the Princess with the Wooden Prince”, the transformation music (where the Prince becomes King of Nature), and the final scene. Saraste’s performance homes in on atmosphere and humour, especially at 13'39'', where the boisterous horn writing recalls Stravinsky’s Petrushka (composed three years earlier) and then at 16'10'', earthy dance music reflecting the Princess’s interest in the puppet (although I missed the tactile col legno writing that, in the ‘complete’ original, comes soon after). The playing of the Toronto Symphony is competent rather than exceptional, and Finlandia’s mellow but dynamic recording (Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto) recalls the spacious sound-frames that East German engineers favoured during the 1960s and 1970s.
In the case of the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, minor slip-ups in ensemble proved distracting. I am thinking in particular of a sloppy string entry at 4'30'' into the Adagio and occasional fuzzy edges in the second and fourth movements. Saraste’s view of the piece is lean, balletic, almost Stravinskian (note the soft-paw string glissandos in the Adagio), and his performance of the magnificent Dance Suite is conceptually very similar. Again, fastish tempos court danger in that the village-band-style woodwind writing 0'57'' into the third dance sounds a trifle slipshod. I also noticed a momentary drop in playback level a couple of seconds into the finale.
With strong alternative versions available from numerous sources, I see no point in labouring detailed comparisons; but if half-an-hour’s worth of The Wooden Prince is all you need, then Saraste’s well-planned suite is worth a try.'