Search - Bartok, Shostakovich, Ogdon :: Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta / Divertimento: Shostakovich; Piano Concerto 1

Bartok's folk spirit lively captured

uaxuctum | Madrid, Spain | 08/15/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is no doubt Bartok's masterpiece and this is sure the best performance of it I've heard, the only one I listen to again and again. I already got this recording when somewhere I read that Fricsay's rendering was allegedly the referential. So, I searched for that one and... yes, I must confess I was disappointed. It's not that Fricsay's somewhat "cerebral" performance is poor: it is very good. But when compared to Marriner's... It may be that he and the ASMIF guys are neither analytic nor virtuoso performers, nor obviously Hungarian. But their recording certainly captures that folk spirit of Bartok in a so-far unsurpassed way and reveals the human side behind Bartok's most abstract composition. The Divertimento is a fabulous companion piece and the only flaw on this CD is the inclusion of a Shostakovich concerto, not bad in itself but here looking completely out of place."