Bartók: Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Béla Bartók
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 5/1991
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 430 352-4DH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer Chicago Symphony Orchestra Georg Solti, Conductor |
| Divertimento |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer Chicago Symphony Orchestra Georg Solti, Conductor |
| (The) Miraculous Mandarin |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer |
Composer or Director: Béla Bartók
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 5/1991
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 69
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 430 352-2DH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer Chicago Symphony Orchestra Georg Solti, Conductor |
| Divertimento |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer Chicago Symphony Orchestra Georg Solti, Conductor |
| (The) Miraculous Mandarin |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer |
Composer or Director: Béla Bartók
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 5/1991
Media Format: Digitial Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 430 352-5DH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer Chicago Symphony Orchestra Georg Solti, Conductor |
| Divertimento |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer Chicago Symphony Orchestra Georg Solti, Conductor |
| (The) Miraculous Mandarin |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer |
Author: Edward Seckerson
Solti may have been leaner and hungrier in 1964—which is when his trail-blazing LSO/Decca recordings of Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta and The miraculous mandarin first appeared (nla)—but he's lost none of his old dynamism in the interim. On the contrary, the finale of the former work finds him pressing the tempo still more insistently in Bartok's hot-footed opening bars. The central dance medley is wonderfully infectious, with Chicago strings con legno beating time, piano and, later, xylophone further quickening the senses. And the returning viola theme (subject of the first movement fugue) is here given a handsome glaze, eloquently preparing the way for that glorious C major transformation of the opening allegro—never more songful than in Solti's experienced hands. The playing, happily marrying precision to spontaneity, is remarkably fine. So, too, in the other movements.
The mystical opening fugue might be more hazily evoked, but it spirals intensely towards the climax and the veiled closing pages are duly chilling (celeste at last earning its solo billing). In the scherzo I'm not sure that even Solti could surpass the very special vitality of his first encounter, but this is crisp and alert (mindful of its classical manners) and the playful pizzicato of the trio is deliciously light on its feet. It helps, of course, that the recording pulls focus so vividly—tight without being dry (the 'house style' has not altered that much since 1964). The first droplets of xylophone, establishing space so dramatically at the outset of the slow movement, are like brilliant digits illuminated on a computer screen; likewise the eerie timpani glissandos, the rustle of sul ponticello strings, icy tam-tam and celeste—there is nothing remote about any of this detail. I like the high-tech definition, though others may find it wanting in atmosphere.
Divertimento now joins the original coupling, ensuring decent value in this CD age, though, I must confess that, in the circumstances, I would sooner have had a complete Miraculous mandarin for my money. Once again, though, the string playing is of a very high order indeed with athletic rhythms (the finale has a truly inbred vitality), the interplay of solo and concertante lines, the harmonic tensions (not least at the strident central crisis of the slow movement) much appreciated by all concerned.
So why is it, I wonder, that Solti didn't take this opportunity to give us a complete Miraculous mandarin? Surely there can be no doubting that final ten or so minutes contain by far the most extraordinary music in the entire score? Or perhaps Solti doesn't agree, perhaps he feels as some do that the highly explicit imagery for these harrowing pages works better as 'underscoring' in a theatrical context. Granted the Suite makes a balanced and effective concert item, and few bring out its wildly neurotic undertow as does Solti. Indeed, I did wonder if his seductive decoy (solo clarinet) was not perhaps a little too twitchy in her enticements. These tense, hypnotic solos need more room to work their sinister spell; Solti is perhaps a little too anxious to move on, to despatch the first two victims (amidst dazzling flurries of trumpets) and bring on the Mandarin. His arrival in the doorway is everything and more than it should be: erotic trombone glissandos, fabulously brazen brass chords and the shrill dementia of upper strings and woodwind. He also whips up quite a cacophony for the opening traffic scene (though the climactic entry of the organ pedal-point is not, alas, felt through the soles of the feet), while the seduction and frenzied final chase (full marks to a virtuoso first trombone in hot pursuit) pull no punches. Solti, I repeat, shows no sign of winding down: can it really be 27 years since the LSO disc?'
The mystical opening fugue might be more hazily evoked, but it spirals intensely towards the climax and the veiled closing pages are duly chilling (celeste at last earning its solo billing). In the scherzo I'm not sure that even Solti could surpass the very special vitality of his first encounter, but this is crisp and alert (mindful of its classical manners) and the playful pizzicato of the trio is deliciously light on its feet. It helps, of course, that the recording pulls focus so vividly—tight without being dry (the 'house style' has not altered that much since 1964). The first droplets of xylophone, establishing space so dramatically at the outset of the slow movement, are like brilliant digits illuminated on a computer screen; likewise the eerie timpani glissandos, the rustle of sul ponticello strings, icy tam-tam and celeste—there is nothing remote about any of this detail. I like the high-tech definition, though others may find it wanting in atmosphere.
Divertimento now joins the original coupling, ensuring decent value in this CD age, though, I must confess that, in the circumstances, I would sooner have had a complete Miraculous mandarin for my money. Once again, though, the string playing is of a very high order indeed with athletic rhythms (the finale has a truly inbred vitality), the interplay of solo and concertante lines, the harmonic tensions (not least at the strident central crisis of the slow movement) much appreciated by all concerned.
So why is it, I wonder, that Solti didn't take this opportunity to give us a complete Miraculous mandarin? Surely there can be no doubting that final ten or so minutes contain by far the most extraordinary music in the entire score? Or perhaps Solti doesn't agree, perhaps he feels as some do that the highly explicit imagery for these harrowing pages works better as 'underscoring' in a theatrical context. Granted the Suite makes a balanced and effective concert item, and few bring out its wildly neurotic undertow as does Solti. Indeed, I did wonder if his seductive decoy (solo clarinet) was not perhaps a little too twitchy in her enticements. These tense, hypnotic solos need more room to work their sinister spell; Solti is perhaps a little too anxious to move on, to despatch the first two victims (amidst dazzling flurries of trumpets) and bring on the Mandarin. His arrival in the doorway is everything and more than it should be: erotic trombone glissandos, fabulously brazen brass chords and the shrill dementia of upper strings and woodwind. He also whips up quite a cacophony for the opening traffic scene (though the climactic entry of the organ pedal-point is not, alas, felt through the soles of the feet), while the seduction and frenzied final chase (full marks to a virtuoso first trombone in hot pursuit) pull no punches. Solti, I repeat, shows no sign of winding down: can it really be 27 years since the LSO disc?'
Bartók: Orchestral Works
Bartók: Orchestral Works
Bartók: Orchestral Works
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.