[OpusRob]

I need a recommendation for Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. I just saw an amazing segment of Great Performances where the piece was featured, and it reminded me of how much I like and admire the work. I have Pierre Boulez conducting the NY Philharmonic, but I doubt it's the best of the bunch. Anybody want to weight in?

 

[reprise]

which concerto?

 

[pdennis]

I have the Ivan Fischer/Budapest Festival Orchestra recording. Very good performance, excellent, excellent recording quality. Very enjoyable.

 

[tonym]

Fritz Reiner/Chicago SO is a good one. Especially the recent Hybrid SACD on RCA LIVING STEREO.

You also get the Concerto for Strings, Percussion & Celeste which is an awesome recording.

 

[hempcamp]

I got the Living Stereo SACD of this a few months back. The redbook layer sounds superb, and is very well mastered! Not to mention it's a powerful and classic interpretation conducted by one of Bartok's most famous students.

--Chris

 

[zumaro]

I second Ivan Fischer for an authoritative modern day performance, with excellent sound.

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonym /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fritz Reiner/Chicago SO is a good one. Especially the recent Hybrid SACD on RCA LIVING STEREO. You also get the Concerto for Strings, Percussion & Celeste which is an awesome recording.

The Reiner/CSO/RCA is a true classic, a 50 yr old recording that makes you wonder if anything has improved during the last 50 yrs in recording industry especially in the new hybrid SACD release. Reiner also:

-Hungarian like compser
-Personally knew composer
-CSO sounds brilliant with this modern music style

Also check out Solti's versions both with LSO and CSO, a new CSO remaster was recently released:

 

[DarkAngel]

Two more versions featuring conductors who personally knew Bartok are:

Dorati/Mercury
Fricsay/DG

These are not as easy to acquire especially the Fricsay, the Dorati is available in large 5CD set or 1CD version, the Dorati box set is well worth acquiring since nearly all these orchestral Bartok works are great performances

 

[lionel marechal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by reprise /img/forum/go_quote.gif which concerto?

THE concerto for Orchestra. There is only one .... for Orchestra.
Concerto for Orchestra (Bartók - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Lionel

 

[mbhaub]

Reiner, Fischer, Dorati, Solti. It doesn't get any better than that. All Hungarians, too. Coincidence?

I also really like Blomstedt/San Francisco. And one that I would never be without is the first: Koussevitsky. Yes, the sound is terrible. Yes, it uses the original, foreshortened ending, but there's an electricity and thrill of this brand new music that should be heard.

 

[reprise]

What the heck is a concerto for orchestra? With no solo instrument, I would've thought you'd call that a symphony..

 

[pdennis]

I think the idea is that, instead of a standard concerto with one solo instrument, or a double or triple concerto with two or three soloists, each section of the orchestra is featured. Not "in turn" per se, but with soloistic writing running between the sections in a fairly organic way.

Plus, he probably liked the non sequiter.

Bartok's isn't the only concerto for orchestra though, nor even the first. I think that Hindemith's was, though I've never heard it. Bartok's is by far the most famous.

 

[Tyson]

Get the Dorati box set that DA referred to. Classic performances of a large chunk of very good music. Cheap, too.

 

[OpusRob]

Thanks, everybody - I am excited to work through several of the aforementioned. I downloaded a version with the young Gustavo Dudamel conducting - he's amazing for his age, and the recording is actually a live performance of the LA Symphony Orchestra, where he is now going to be conducting. My interest in him started with the recent PBS Great Performances broadcast of him with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra from Venezuela. So far, I have liked this recording very much - works great for the car, where fidelity can be a little sketchy with outside noice etc. Anyway, I look forward to more versions of this incredible work, and i am especially excited because I am getting an SACD player this week that should make new exciting listening possibilities available to me.