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The Lp's below are my favorite Bartok performances, for now. (Haven't heard everything, of course.) If the recording is particularly remarkable, I've added an (R), if the performance is, I've added a (P). "Desert Island" Lp's = (DI)Sonata for Solo Violin: Ricci on London/Decca.
String Quartets: Juilliard Columbia MONO SET from the '50's. (DI)
Miraculous Mandarin Suite: Ormandy/Philadelphia on EMI (*****R) Bass Drum lovers will be in heaven. Ormandy seems to have super-charged himself in the late '70's as well.
Concerto for Orchestra: Boulez/NY Columbia (The most "fun" performances I know, which is surprising considering the conductor, and the Finale must have brought down the house)
Wooden Prince: Boulez/NY Columbia.
Bluebeard's Castle: Ludwig/Kertesz/LSO on London/Decca *****P) A Classic
Piano Concerto 3: Anda/Fricsay on DGG
Piano Concerto 2: Bishop/Davis on Philips or Kocsis/Fischer on Philips Digital, most vivid and rousing 3rd mov't of all.Dance Suite: Ansermet *****R) One of those Geneva miracles of vivid sound.
Two Pictures: Ansemet/Suisse Romande
Music for Strings/Percussion/Celesta: Haitink/Concertgebouw on Philips (A sleeper of a recording and performance.)
Glaring omissions: Reiner: misses much the fun and the particular Shaded Dog recordings in question have been surpassed. Dorati: much like Reiner, too stiff and recordings are not Mercury's best efforts. Juilliard's "classic" '60's Columbia quartets: Winograd--the cellist and heart/soul of the first set--was replaced.
Edits: 11/23/14 11/23/14Follow Ups:
Bartok has an early Piano Quintet that is worth a listen. It shows the romantic road not taken.
Gregg
Funny thing, at this stage of my life I don't feel qualified to put a list like this together. I don't know if I would agree with all of your choices, but I don't know that I wouldn't either. I think I could do this for Wagner, although I sadly can't say which particular Tristan might be my favorite, since I have just never been able to immerse myself in the whole Tristan und Isolde ethos. (I also draw a bit of blank on Lohengrin). I could also do it for a lot of Beethoven, and perhaps the Sibelius symphonies, but I have a lot of admiration for you.
I'm thinking Prokofiev.Regarding qualification:
I hope people enjoy the read but don't take any of the recommendations as the Last Word, though I do hope that people give the "Desert Island" discs a spin because they've given me such pleasure over the years.
Any newbies would certainly not go wrong if they picked up the other recommendations in a Thrift, IMHO.
There are also some incredibly recorded Lp's floating around which get overlooked or overshadowed by those in TAS. I wanted to give people a head's up to those as well.
It's easy to hear every Lp version of some works, like the Prokofiev 2nd PC or the Durufle Requiem; but then you've got Beethoven's 5th/9th etc. Who could hear them all?
Since the game is analog, it a little easier to whittle down the list since no CD-era performances are considered.Frankly I'm tired of many of the old warhorses, and at this stage in the game prefer a quirky, refreshing performance (think Ansermet, Scherchen or Furtwanger) over the standard top recommendation that one sees in the Gramonphone. This is something else I hope people take into consideration.
Edits: 11/29/14
While the sound quality is understandably mediocre, I don't think any Bartok discography should exclude the 1940 Bartok/Szigeti recital at the Library of Congress, eventually issued on LP by Vanguard, which includes the 2nd violin sonata and 1st Rhapsody.
And for a very good later LP version of the violin sonatas, believe it or not I like the unfashionable and reviled Isaac Stern, with Alexander Zakin on Columbia.
you gotta add this :). Not a good recording, and it is in awful fake stereo, but look at the people playing on it!! A real fun listen.
Only if i could find a good mono copy :(
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
Edits: 11/24/14
not everyone wants to deal with 78s.
Nice. I understand Szigeti, who was a close friend of Bartok, convinced Goodman to give him the commission. I enjoy the LP very much, and here's another good one in my collection:
Agreed! Gentler also has a great history with Bartok. I have not listened to it in ages. Perhaps tonight.
Greg
thanks for the picture.
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
A fine list, jdaniel, which I would only need to give an odd tweak before packing away in a suitcase for that mythical desert island. The second violin concerto is a must, one of my favourite Bartok works. I have Haitink in MfSPC and it is excellent, but Mravinsky in his live recording takes this piece to another level. Andre Gertler recorded for Supraphon a series of Bartok chamber works for solo violin and violin/piano accompanied by his wife Diane Andersen which are well worth investigating.
could not be more endearing though.
Hi jdaniel - you have some very good selections here. As far as some additions, I would add Perlman's performance of the 2nd Violin Concerto with the LSO, Previn conducting. There is also a great record of Pollini doing the first two piano concertos with Abbado conducting the Chicago Symphony. And there are also a few recordings out there of Bartok himself performing some of his piano compositions, which are of course very interesting. A little more out of the ordinary is a recording Boulez did with the New York Phil of his cantata, the Wooden Prince.
Now I must heartily disagree with you on the Reiner recordings. The Concerto for Orchestra has never been surpassed, though I do think the Ormandy one mentioned is very very good as well. Those are by miles the best two performances of the piece I am aware of on recordings. Reiner's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste is also a great performance.
For those of you that love to listen for mistakes in Solti's famous one-take recordings with the Chicago Symphony, the Concerto for Orchestra paired with the Dance Suite has a great many....
...where's the sense of mischievous fun???
Anda, Kubelik, Kocsis/Fischer even Haitink and even Boulez capture the folksiness and fun that seems to elude Reiner and Pollini.
Neither expensive (you can see what I paid for it, in mint condition) nor hard to find.
Sonics are terrific, so is the performance.
___
The little old ladies wait in wild anticipation for the meetings of the Double-A-C-ASSN...
some really intense performances, including the Mandarin, which surpasses the Dorati, who IMHO isn't sleazy enough, and the execution of the Philly Strings in the chase sequence is something to behold. Give it a try, even on a US Angel, which are everywhere.
Hopefully I can find it on EMI, if not I'm sure my local record store has a copy or two on the US Angel imprint. Ormandy's work on Angel is easy to find and some of it is actually mastered OK.
___
The little old ladies wait in wild anticipation for the meetings of the Double-A-C-ASSN...
the whole series by this label sounds very good to my ears and I like their performance.
Natural sounding instruments emerge from a quiet background. Not as pitch dark as newer digital recording but the music remains more fluid and keeping a natural tonal colours preserving much of overtones. Very little distortion throughout. Realistic transient impact, too. Less than optimally set up cartridge or some cartridges can have trouble tracking snare drums decays, however.
Also, it's not on vinyl, but check out this Boulez/CSO/Shaham's Concerto and Rhapsody.
AFAIK Hungaroton was the first and still is the only label that recorded all of Bartok's works. Communist economic system, 5 year planning. This is simply impossible in a Western market economy.
I have quite a lot of them, i like the performances, the recordings are OK, the pressings so-so. I once found a banana box full of them for 0,50 euro per, in a local thrift. Needless to say i bought them all...
"The torture never stops"Greetings Freek.
I have about a dozen of the Hungaroton series. Like you, I find them well-recorded. I generally like the performances. I seek out Hungarian artists for Bartok. I feel like they have more emotional connection with the music. My favorite Quartet performances are by the Fine Arts Quartet on Concert Disc, the Tokyo on DGG and the Julliard on Columbia. I love the Piano Pieces for Children as performed by Mary Kenedi on the Echiquier label. I found it at a swap meet and it always calms me after a tough day in the ER.
not a huge fan or either of the pianists :)...but the sonata is not recorded much, i think i had that hungaroton a while back. i will look for it again.
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
but i kinda like the Takaács interpretation of the quartets on Decca better than the Julian or Emerson readings. Somehow it is more visceral. Just my opinion,
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
On vinyl, the Takacs Quartet has a box set of the complete string quartets on Hungaroton, digitally recorded in 1984. Great performances; pretty good sound for a digital recording.
is that Baja California or Baja Hungary?
dee
;=D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
no mention of that box set on their website....
They are an accessible bunch i saw at the Peabody at a master class playing a few pieces and at the Kennedy Center doing the Bartok quartets
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
I picked up the Hungaraton box set at my local used vinyl store a couple of years ago...could be it's unavailable except on the used market.
It's nice that you mention the Ormandy EMI Miraculous Mandarin. Not that many people know just how good that record is. The Ansermet Dance Suite is also one amazing recording. The piece fits the strengths of the OSR, and, as you say, the sound is nothing short of miraculous.
I think my favorite Concerto for Orchestra is this Ormandy:
A wonderful performance, and the sound is quite good, particularly on the UK issue SBRG 72282, which is neither hard to find nor expensive. The Reiner is fine and the sound is great, but somehow it has always left me flat.
Under the "might have been good" heading is the Ormandy Bluebeard's Castle with Jerome Hines. It's good, but I just cannot deal with it being in English.
.
I noticed you don't list any performance recorded on "Bartok Records".
The reason I bring this up is because I have (by chance) one Viola Concerto with William Primrose (Viola) and The New Symphony Orchestra of London conducted by Tibor Serly.
A new record to me I haven't had a chance to give it a close listen. Just a brief scan from a distance. Seems to have very good sonic quality. Nice timber/texture and presence. Other than that the music sounds very much like a Bartok composition.
No photos of the Lp as yet. The album has a laminated outer jacket and the Lp itself features a Maroon colored label with matte silver colored text. NM/NM.
-Steve
Wondering why you use the word "humble" so much. Have a little confidence, man! Even if said tongue in cheek, there's really no need. You clearly know your stuff, much more so than many of us so called classical aficionados and express effectively and clearly what you hear. So no need for modesty. This is family!
of them can claim complete confidence when making a recommendation.
Thanks though. I'm mainly doing this because I'm in the process of alphabetizing my collection. : )
Although it hits all the highlights, Bartok had a vast repertoire :).
The things i would like to ask about is the Divertimento, Microcosm, Rumanian dances, Sonata for two pianos and precision, the viola concerto, Cantata Profana, and not the least but for last the two rhapsodies :)...
Unfortunately i do not have good performances of all but got a few here and there but not enough to form an educated opinion on what is the most representative of what Bela intended :).
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
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