I've been on a big Bartok kick lately, especially his orchestral work, particularly his piano concerto's. I remember not really liking the PC's at first, but after about a dozen listens to each of them they have very much grown on me and I now really like them. I guess with "difficult" music like this, it requires a few listens. Plus, I tried several different recordings with different artists before getting a good feel for the works. Anyone else here like Bartok's orchesral music?
DG is to release a new disc of Bartok’s piano concertos (1-3) in February. Further, in celebration of conductor Pierre Boulez’s 80th B-Day, DG is releasing four new CDs in Feb/March. I happened to have taken a train across Germany to see the Berliner Philharmoniker before the recording of the Barktok PC #2 (performed by Leif-Ove Andsnes). The concert hall is amazing architecture. Top pianists in the lineup here: Zimerman, Andsnes, and Grimaud.
I am not a big fan of the Piano Concertos, but do listen to two main orchstral pieces:
-concerto for orchestra
-music for strings, percussion, celesta
I have a few different versions, standard by which all others are measured has to be the legendary Reiner/RCA Living Stereo:
One of the earliest stereo classical recordings still sounds great in CD format and just recently released as SACD. Renier has remarkable feel for these angular works and CSO is in top form. I also have Solti, Bernstein, and Boulez.
Originally Posted by DarkAngel I am not a big fan of the Piano Concertos, but do listen to two main orchstral pieces:
-concerto for orchestra
-music for strings, percussion, celesta
I have a few different versions, standard by which all others are measured has to be the legendary Reiner/RCA Living Stereo:
One of the earliest stereo classical recordings still sounds great in CD format and just recently released as SACD. Renier has remarkable feel for these angular works and CSO is in top form. I also have Solti, Bernstein, and Boulez.
I have this sacd and it sounds wonderful. I highly recommend it.
If you like the piano concertos be sure to pick up Pollini and Abbado on DG! By far and away the best rendition. I think you will find his String Quartets thought prevoking as well. Easily the best cycle in my opinion. The Emerson's do a fantastic job. I think it won a Gramaphone award in 89??
Originally Posted by JohnFerrier DG is to release a new disc of Bartok’s piano concertos (1-3) in February. Further, in celebration of conductor Pierre Boulez’s 80th B-Day, DG is releasing four new CDs in Feb/March. I happened to have taken a train across Germany to see the Berliner Philharmoniker before the recording of the Barktok PC #2 (performed by Leif-Ove Andsnes). The concert hall is amazing architecture. Top pianists in the lineup here: Zimerman, Andsnes, and Grimaud.
That is a very interesting release, I will definitely be picking it up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HVK If you like the piano concertos be sure to pick up Pollini and Abbado on DG! By far and away the best rendition. I think you will find his String Quartets thought prevoking as well. Easily the best cycle in my opinion. The Emerson's do a fantastic job. I think it won a Gramaphone award in 89??
I have the Emersons set of Quartets, along w/the Takacs & the New Budapest Quartet cycles. The Emersons are indeed my favorites. I also have the Pollini version of the PC's, along complete cycles by Anda, Kocsis, Schiff, and Sandor. Of all of them I like the Pollini, the Anda, and the Schiff the best. Pollini for his modern, angular, almost brutal rendition, Anda for his "romantic" interpretation, and Schiff for his very lyrical and flowing account. Kocsis is somewhere between Pollini and Schiff, but not quite as satisfying as either, and Sandor is just way too soft and underpowered.
Man I love this forum. People really know their stuff and are so diverse in what they are listening to. We are talking about Bartok here, fantastic! Not many audio forums would even know who this is, let alone discuss different recordings.
I was inspired to pull out my Karajan/BPO recording of the Concerto for Orchestra this morning. I haven't listened to this piece in years. The sound quality is outstanding and I really like the pacing and musicality. It is a very smooth performance. Occasionally I wanted to hear more power in the climaxes. I know Karajan is very capable of that so I am sure he knows better than I.
I will have to check out the Reiner recording.
I will see if I can get a hold of some of the piano concertos. I think I have a violin concerto in my collection that I will try and locate. I believe it is a Chicago/Solti recording paired with the Berg Violin Concerto (one of my favorite concertos of all time) with a Korean violinist who is wonderful but I can't remember her name.
Originally Posted by dshea_32665 Man I love this forum. People really know their stuff and are so diverse in what they are listening to. We are talking about Bartok here, fantastic! Not many audio forums would even know who this is, let alone discuss different recordings.
I was inspired to pull out my Karajan/BPO recording of the Concerto for Orchestra this morning. I haven't listened to this piece in years. The sound quality is outstanding and I really like the pacing and musicality. It is a very smooth performance. Occasionally I wanted to hear more power in the climaxes. I know Karajan is very capable of that so I am sure he knows better than I.
I will have to check out the Reiner recording.
I will see if I can get a hold of some of the piano concertos. I think I have a violin concerto in my collection that I will try and locate. I believe it is a Chicago/Solti recording paired with the Berg Violin Concerto (one of my favorite concertos of all time) with a Korean violinist who is wonderful but I can't remember her name.
Cheers,
dshea
If you noticed my Forum name HVK is because of my love, respect and admiration of the great Karajan. He did many great recordings with the one you speak of being great as well. Bartok is indeed a great composer as are Schoenberg and Scnittke. Two others I think you will find highly enjoyable! HVK (aka,the master).
my preferred Piano Concertos recording is also the Abbado/Pollini one. It is a bit old and it shows (harsh, grainy highs) but the *energy* these guys put into it... wow!
I also like the Kocsis/Fischer/Budapest Festival Orch. Concerto No 1 on Philips. In the same disk Fischer performs the "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta".
I would also recommend that you get at least one recording of the rightly famous Quartets. It may not be the easiest music to listen to but it is very rewarding. For some reason I find the even-numbered quartets (2-4-6) to be more "pleasant" than the others. My favourite recording is the older Tokio Quartet one (the one issued by DG). Their technique is breathtaking, and their interpretation powerful without being fierce. I also own the recent Takacs Quartet edition which is the favourite of both Gramophone and Penguin, but I don't think it matches the Tokio one. The Takacs interpretation is more "folksy", and I guess this is a good thing as Bartok got most of his material from Hungarian country music, but I believe that technically they are no match for the Tokio Quartet.
Pollini/Abbado is very good, but they don't include Piano Concerto #3
And I'm not sure if it's a good "first rec" for someone just getting to know the music. I find I enjoy it much more after acclimating myself with the Schiff/Fischer or the Anda/Fricsay recordings.
Originally Posted by calaf my preferred Piano Concertos recording is also the Abbado/Pollini one. It is a bit old and it shows (harsh, grainy highs) but the *energy* these guys put into it... wow!
I also like the Kocsis/Fischer/Budapest Festival Orch. Concerto No 1 on Philips. In the same disk Fischer performs the "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta".
I would also recommend that you get at least one recording of the rightly famous Quartets. It may not be the easiest music to listen to but it is very rewarding. For some reason I find the even-numbered quartets (2-4-6) to be more "pleasant" than the others. My favourite recording is the older Tokio Quartet one (the one issued by DG). Their technique is breathtaking, and their interpretation powerful without being fierce. I also own the recent Takacs Quartet edition which is the favourite of both Gramophone and Penguin, but I don't think it matches the Tokio one. The Takacs interpretation is more "folksy", and I guess this is a good thing as Bartok got most of his material from Hungarian country music, but I believe that technically they are no match for the Tokio Quartet.
The concerto was re-mastered for the Pollini box set that came out a couple of years ago for his 65th birthday. I think you'll find the recorded quality much better.
I have the Vegh quartet recording; I'll have to try out the Emerson. They are my favourite quartets after Mozart and Beethoven.
I played some Romanian dances in an orchestra a few years ago. I don't know if they are the original or an arrangement - I have also heard one of them with violin/piano and piano solo.
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