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In Reply to: RE: Bernstein's Bartok Music for Strings, Perc, and Celesta. Anyone as impressed as I? posted by jdaniel@jps.net on July 11, 2020 at 18:28:16
Classic 60s multi-mic Columbia sound. I kept a Kleenex with me to dab blood from my ears but strings not as edgy as expected.So much detail unearthed.
First movt is slow but it mostly works and Bernstein maintains a sense of arc and direction. One can savor grinding polyphony more than usual. Toward the end though, the string of (outsized) Celesta sextuplets(?) seems to go on forever, Mel Brooks-style.
The automaton-like middle stretch of the 2nd movt is particularly ear-tickling thanks to the close-up sound. Ditto for the 3rd movt.
Bernstein gives the final movt the "Hoedown" treatment. Exhilarating. "Just have fun" vs Reiner's "Just have fun...or die".
Edits: 07/12/20Follow Ups:
"Classic 60s multi-mic Columbia sound. I kept a Kleenex with me to dab blood from my ears but strings not as edgy as expected.
So much unnatural detail unearthed."
There, fixed it for you! - although I have to commend you on your choice of the "monster" and "Godzilla" descriptors, as details in the orchestral texture on this recording are indeed gruesomely pushed forward by Columbia's dweebs in the control room, all of whom no doubt graduated from the Andrew Kazdin school of schlock engineering. As for the "Hoedown" in the last movement, I think that's something which only someone who lives in Lenny's world can appreciate.
BTW, MSPC is one of Ms. CfL's favorite works! (Not coincidentally, she's also a big fan of Kubrick's "The Shining".) We usually listen to Dorati, Skrowaczewski, and (yes!) Reiner. ;-) The Reiner recording is at least three-channel, but when we want real surround, we go for Kocsis or (yes!) Gardner. There's also a surprisingly good Pentatone recording in quad with Ozawa and the BSO (coupled with Kubelik's terrific Concerto for Orchestra, also with the BSO).
My favorite lp version.
Great playing. Vivid but warm sound.
When Haitink first took over the Concertgebouw, his first two releases were the Dvorak Seventh and the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra / Dance Suite. I had these recordings and loved them both! I managed to get the Dvorak on CD, but not the Bartok, and I somehow thought that Haitink had re-recorded the Bartok. Here are the earliest album covers I remember:
.
...albeit in an edition seemingly made for the Dutch market. A very attractive package, with Haitink's other Bartok (and Kodaly) thrown in. I think I got it used at either Amoeba or Rasputins, and I feel fortunate to have snagged it!
Russell
I always wondered what those early Haitink Ravel recordings sounded like!
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