Search - Bela Bartok, Ivan Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra :: Bartók: Orchestral Music

One of the finest sets of music ever issued. A must

G.D. | Norway | 10/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ivan Fischer's Bartok recordings with the Budapest Festival Orchestra do, in my view, stand among the great recordings of the 20th century. While there might, with respect to certain of the works covered, be equally good performances out there, I cannot think of any better ones. The only pity would be that Fischer and his band haven't yet gone on to record the rest of Bartok's orchestral output (even without the concertos, there should be at least three more discs worth of orchestral music if one counts the early works, and three discs of concertante works as well).



That said, I am not sure I would, ultimately, have preferred the first disc coupling the Concerto for Orchestra with the early tone poem Kossuth to Blomstedt's identical coupling (but it isn't in any way inferior), were it not for the inclusion of a marvelous rendition of the Village Scenes. But start with Kossuth. This is really a remarkable work, even if the style harks back to the tone poem tradition of the nineteenth century and contains little of the mature Bartok. Liszt's tone poems loom large for instance (but Kossuth is superior to most of what Liszt contributed to the genre he arguably invented). It is a thoroughly enjoyable work, dramatic, vigorous, memorable, full of tunes and marvelous scoring and should really be much better known (even if it isn't, again, mature Bartok). Compared to Blomstedt's version, the latter is sleeker, more elegant and perhaps displaying more crucial forward momentum, but Fischer has the edge with respect to raw power, and the Budapest's solos are utterly marvelous.



The three Village scenes, dazzlingly orchestrated voice and piano works also constitute an utterly attractive work, consisting of a boisterous, frolicsome `Wedding', a lyrical but rather dark `Lullaby' and an agitated `Lad's Dance'. It is hard to imagine a better performance than this one; the Slovak Folk Ensemble Chorus (ladies') gives a committed, almost over-the-top boisterous performance and Fischer drives the Budapest orchestra along in a manner that reeks of electricity - the combination is a truly red-blooded, magnificently vital and vigorous and really unmissable performance. Competition is of course fiercer in the Concerto for Orchestra. And Ivan Fischer needs fear nothing. The vivid colors, the fragrance and taste of this performance is like nothing I've heard before. Everything here is so meticulously planned (I would think) and so marvelously executed that even a performance like Reiner's seems to be distanced. Marvelously characterized and alive, this is a thoroughly fabulous performance with scintillating playing from the orchestra, in particular (if any part can be singled out) in the buoyantly swirling finale.



Despite the praise deserved by disc 1, it is the second disc, containing the Miraculous Mandarin, which is the highlight. I am indeed hard pressed to see how this one can be equaled, let alone surpassed. The electrifying energy is all there and the performance is so vivid and so red-blooded that it almost leaves the listener (this listener, at least) gasping for breath. It is raw, tough, smoldering and it sounds as if the whole work has been conceived of as one big arch from the quiet, but anxious opening in the cellos, to the thunderously savage all-hell-is-loose chase scene. But the rigid focus is not realized at the expense of detail and color - every facet is there, every nuance of swirling colors and shades, every facet of the majesty, fervor, nobility, seductiveness, aggression, tenderness, voluptuousness, playfulness, barbarism and rage contained in this marvelous work. One thing is Fischer's vision of the work; another is the fact that the Budapest Festival Orchestral players' individual contributions are small miracles in themselves; piercing, raw strings, woodwind playing that can realize the cackling reediness and deep warmth with perfection, thundering brass and percussion. Everything is simply as good as it can be. This is as close as one can hope to come to a perfect performance of anything and one of the performances I am truly grateful that I had the opportunity to hear. The same qualities permeate the rest of the disc, from the playfully impish, buoyant and lively Hungarian Peasant songs to the imaginative fairy-tale atmosphere of the Hungarian Sketches, the bouncingly fiery and lyrical Romanian Folkdances and the mesmerizing Transylvanian Dances (the Sonatina for piano, orchestrated with skill and imagination).



Turning to the third disc, The Wooden Prince might not be as tightly argued or powerful as the Miraculous Mandarin, but it is still a superb and powerful score. It leans more on tradition (Richard Strauss, early Schönberg, impressionism) than the Mandarin, but it is still mature Bartok, full of his personal touches and, more importantly, his genius. Fischer's performance of it is again peerless, and the orchestral contributions are again scintillating. Tempos are on the quick side, but not very noticeably so, but in several part the upshot is more alluring, mischievous playfulness than voluptousness. But the main strength is Fischer's conception of the work as a whole, not at the expense of superb characterization of the individual parts, but always with an emphasis on how those individual parts belong in the long single span that runs throughout the work. On the way there, the urgency and tension built up is almost tangible, in addition to the work being powerfully and seductively atmospheric. Delightful characterizations abound, quirkiness, grotesqueries and sheer glittering beauty. As mentioned, the contributions from the orchestra are superb; astringent, variously acerbic and lush strings, some stupendous woodwind playing and ferociously menacing brass. The same qualities are ever-present in the marvelous Dance suite as well - indeed, this performance is perhaps even more excellent than the Wooden Prince one, with incisive rhythms, swaying, braying brass in a magnificent display of colors and character.



This three disc set is a real winner, then, and the sound quality is absolutely excellent. An essential acquisition, if there ever was one."