Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra / The Miraculous Mandarin, (suite) / The Wooden Prince Suite / etc

Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra / The Miraculous Mandarin, (suite) / The Wooden Prince Suite / etc cover $35.00 Out of Stock
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BELA BARTOK
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra / The Miraculous Mandarin, (suite) / The Wooden Prince Suite / etc
Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Neeme Jarvi

[ Chandos 241 / 2 CD ]

Release Date: Sunday 20 July 2014

This item is currently out of stock. It may take 6 or more weeks to obtain from when you place your order as this is a specialist product.

This '2for1' reissue brings together the best performances by Neeme Järvi of the music by Bartók, taken from his extraordinarily prolific recording career with Chandos Records.

The Concerto for Orchestra has remained one of Bartók's most popular orchestral works since its triumphant premiere in 1944. Its title signals that each section of instruments is treated in a soloistic and virtuoso way.

The ballet The Miraculous Mandarin is set in a seedy urban underworld, it tells the tale of a prostitute, the three thugs that control her, and their mysterious encounter with the eponymous Mandarin. In portraying this scenario Bartók creates an astonishingly vivid score with some of the most colourful music he ever wrote.

The Wooden Prince, an earlier ballet, could not on the surface be further from The Miraculous Mandarin. Lacking its daring modernism, it instead shows the influence of Debussy, Strauss, and Wagner. However, its outwardly sunny character obscures a strange and surreal undertone.

The Hungarian Pictures are skilful and imaginative orchestrations made in 1931 of five earlier piano pieces. Each with its own distinct character, these pieces give the impression of being an authentic folksong arrangement, although this is true only of the last of the five.

"The drama of the fairy story is told in glowing colours and, unlike most rivals, Jarvi ignores the many little cuts that the composer sanctioned, reluctantly or not, over the years. The opulent playing of the Philharmonia is greatly enchanced by the full, vivid Chandos recording." (Penguin Stereo on the Wooden Prince)

Tracks:

Concerto for Orchestra
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73
The Wooden Prince Suite
Hungarian Sketches, BB 103, Sz. 97

Magyar kepek (Hungarian Sketches) , BB 103: An Evening in the Village