Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; Kodály: Peacock Variations

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Erich Leinsdorf's 1962 version of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra has certainly come up with astounding vividness in RCA's latest 24-bit remastering--nowhere more so than in the irrepressible finale, which bounds along here with a giant confidence. Ultimately, though, Leinsdorf's interpretation is simply too slick to convince. Sure, the corporate virtuosity of the Boston orchestra is pretty dazzling--on a purely technical level, the standard of the playing is well up there alongside that on other vintage analogue versions from the Chicago Symphony under Fritz Reiner (RCA) and the London Symphony Orchestra with Antal Dorati (Mercury)--but the music's tangy wit, pathos, and (above all) homesick heartache elude the present team entirely. Fortunately, Ivan Fischer and his dazzling Budapest Festival Orchestra are on hand to provide the necessary antidote; their Philips version positively brims with creative flair and affectionate perception. Bafflingly, Leinsdorf's performance of Kodály's masterly and exhilarating Peacock Variations is something else again, a clear-headed, purposeful reading as sublimely poised as it is splendidly imposing. Once more, the 1963 sound possesses superb, ear-tingling realism. A frustratingly unequal coupling, then, but do try to hear the Kodály. --Andrew Achenbach

Tracks:

Concerto For Orchestra: I. Introduzione - Andante non troppo; Allegro vivace
Concerto For Orchestra: II. Giuoco delle Coppie - Allegretto scherzando
Concerto For Orchestra: III. Elegia - Andante, non troppo
Concerto For Orchestra: IV. Intermezzo Interroto - Allegretto
Concerto For Orchestra: V. Finale - Pesante; Presto
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Theme: Moderato
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation I: Con brio
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation II: Staccato leggiero
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation III: Appassionato
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation IV: Poco calmato
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation V: Appassionato
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation VI: Calmato
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation VII: Vivo
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation VIII: Piu vivo
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation IX: Pizzicato
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation X: Molto vivo
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation XI: Andante espressivo
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation XII: Adagio
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation XIII: Tempo di Marcia funebre
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation XIV: Andante, poco rubato
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation XV: Allegro giocoso
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Variation XVI: Maestoso
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong, 'The Peacock': Finale: Vivace

Amazon.com

Erich Leinsdorf's 1962 version of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra has certainly come up with astounding vividness in RCA's latest 24-bit remastering--nowhere more so than in the irrepressible finale, which bounds along here with a giant confidence. Ultimately, though, Leinsdorf's interpretation is simply too slick to convince. Sure, the corporate virtuosity of the Boston orchestra is pretty dazzling--on a purely technical level, the standard of the playing is well up there alongside that on other vintage analogue versions from the Chicago Symphony under Fritz Reiner (RCA) and the London Symphony Orchestra with Antal Dorati (Mercury)--but the music's tangy wit, pathos, and (above all) homesick heartache elude the present team entirely. Fortunately, Ivan Fischer and his dazzling Budapest Festival Orchestra are on hand to provide the necessary antidote; their Philips version positively brims with creative flair and affectionate perception. Bafflingly, Leinsdorf's performance of Kodály's masterly and exhilarating Peacock Variations is something else again, a clear-headed, purposeful reading as sublimely poised as it is splendidly imposing. Once more, the 1963 sound possesses superb, ear-tingling realism. A frustratingly unequal coupling, then, but do try to hear the Kodály. --Andrew Achenbach

Customer Reviews:

How did I overlook this reissue?.......2007-06-01

How did I overlook this reissue? It's been one of my favorite recordings for 45 years. I've worn out two LPs of it.

This was the debut recording of Erich Leinsdorf with the Boston Symphony. It was issued with a free second LP called "The Golden years of the Boston Symphony," a little treasure of a sampler with excerpts from pieces conducted by the orchestra's previous great conductors.

Leinsdorf's 1962 interpretation has always been for me the definitive one, despite the overwhelming popularity of Reiner's ground-breaking 1955 version. There's a classical unity to the Leinsdorf that I like, as opposed to Reiner's slightly more disjointed approach.

The Leinsdorf has been criticized as lacking in warmth. While that may to some extent be true, it more than makes up for it with its incisive bite. It can be absolutely spine-tingling.

It's almost unimaginable to equate the austere Leinsdorf, who when conducting barely moved his hands, with the incredible momentum and power he generated in this performance. Credit for this must be shared with the Boston Symphony itself, which had given the premiere of the "Concerto" and for whose successive members the piece was an important legacy.

One of the last Ambassadors of a golden generation of directors!.......2007-03-16

The presence of Erich Leindsdorf meant the Boston Symphony the beginning of the end of a golden period that began with Koussevitzky in 1922. This was a very talented director, who never matched in aristocratic flair or vertiginous incandescence of his predecessor Charles Munch but that certainly was light years far beyond the next titular or this Orchestra.

In this sense Leindsdorf still conserved the charm, a wise approach and conviction around the music's meaning.

Among his most reminded musical legacies, this version of Concerto for Orchestra has been considered for most audiences as one of his most pyramidal recordings. He conferred the Boston that spectacular and unique involving sound that featured the sound of the golden period of the American orchestras between 1920 and 1970.

If you barely think about the presence of invaluable batons imported from Europe in that period, you will deduce why Stokowski and Ormandy n Philadelphia, Fritz Reiner in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Chicago, Szell in Cleveland, Kousevitzky and Munch in Boston, Toscanini founding the NBC Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropulos, Bruno Walter (with the presence in the podium of a legendary constellation of guest conductors such as Beecham, Barbirolli, Cantelli and Victor de Sabata among the most reminded) with the New York Philharmonic, Paul Paray in Detroit and Antal Dorati with the Minneapolis Orchestra conform an indisputable evidence that carves in relief the emerging of talented directors such as Bernstein in 1949 from Harvard, Thomas Schippers and Michael Tilson Thomas, among others famous names.

Kilometers of ink have been depicted this fortunate fact that allowed to Boston Symphony be considered in those fifties as the most aristocratic of American Orchestra, with an undeniable European flair that certainly would vanish since the command of Leindsdorf' s successor.

A version to collect among the most distinguished, although no other performance will be able to match with the terrific and out of this world version of Fritz Reiner conducting the Pittsburgh in the middle forties.

Leinsdorff: Bartok/Kodaly.......2005-03-03

Simply fabulous. I bought the recording for the Kodaly, but I like the Bartok performance too. Great recording..... and 1964 at that - that makes it 40 years old! Leinsdorff is one of the old masters on the RCA Label. IMO RCA should reissue more of the old masters...,. e.g. Morton Gould who does a smashing Bolero.

Very fine Boston recording.......2004-09-16

The Concerto for orchestra is given a very fine recording with a fairly clean patina of sound for this vintage. Leinsdorf is very good in the night music here with some super woodwind apreggios...nicely caught...
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I was somewhat dissapointed by the finale of the Concerto for some reason...it was a bit blaring at times and not always were the brass in tune.

Approachable Bartok from "The Aristocrat of Orchestras".......2000-11-13

This recording is spellbinding. Commissioned by former conductor Serge Koussevitsky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, this Bartok performance was the first recording produced by the RCA Layton/Mohr team for the BSO under Leinsdorf's direction. Erich Leinsdorf brought Austrian attention to detail to the orchestra after the laissez-faire approach of his predecessor, the marvelous Charles Munch. Having seen and heard both conductors of the Boston Symphony, I marveled at the way the board of directors navigated the treacherous waters of directorship selection transitioning from Munch to Leinsdorf. Leinsdorf took this already great orchestra down the path of tighter discipline and established a sheen of performance that could both be rapturously appealing and steely cold simultaneously! He reorganized the orchestral layout, splitting the first and second violins, placed the orchestra on stage risers as Koussevitsky had done, and achieved stunning recorded sound with RCA engineers through a number of tedious trial microphone placement sessions alluded to in the program notes. If you have never been to Symphony Hall in Boston to hear this great orchestra in one of the world's best music halls, these recordings convey everything worth the trip but the statues and gold leaf in the hall! The analog recorded sound is astonishing and the performances illuminating and vivid. Neither the Bartok or Kodaly are repertory warhorses, but these recordings do them great justice and deserve hearing. Obviously a labor of love, Nat Johnson and his team have done a great service in already bringing a number of these archival treasures to CD. I do hope they continue to mine the archives as effectively, and produce many more of the great recordings of the early stereo era from both Boston and Chicago which are present in the vaults at RCA/BMG! BRAVO!

Average customer rating:

a very welcome anthology for modest price
Bartok and Kodaly in hungarian style

Bartók for Orchestra

Manufacturer: Nimbus Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music

Grieg: Complete Music with Orchestra
Mendelssohn: 5 Symphonies; 7 Overtures

ASIN: B0000037B0
Release Date: 1997-10-07

Tracks:

The Wooden Prince: Ste, Op.13: Vorspiel-Die Prinzessin
The Wooden Prince: Ste, Op.13: Der Wald
The Wooden Prince: Ste, Op.13: Arbeitslied Der Prinzen
The Wooden Prince: Ste, Op.13: Der Bach
The Wooden Prince: Ste, Op.13: Tanz Des Holzgeschnitzien Prinzen-Nachapiel
Two Portraits, Op.5: I. One Ideal
Two Portraits, Op.5: II. One Grotesque

Tracks:

Music: I. Andante Tranquillo
Music: II. Allegro
Music: III. Adagio
Music: IV. Allegro Molto
Diver: I. Allegro Non Troppo
Diver: II. Molto Adagio
Divert: III. Allegro Assai

Tracks:

Vn Con No.1 (Op. Posth.): I. Andante Sostenuto
Vn Con No.1 (Op. Posth.): II. Allegro Giocoso
Vn Con No.2: I. Allegro Non Troppo
Vn Con No.2: II. Andante Tranquillo
Vn Con No.2: III. Allegro Molto

Tracks:

Romanian Folk Dances: I. The Stick Dance
Romanian Folk Dances: II. Round Dance
Romanian Folk Dances: III. In One Spot
Romanian Folk Dances: IV. The Horn Dance
Romanian Folk Dances: V. Romanian Polka
Romanian Folk Dances: VI. Short And Sweet
Romanian Folk Dances: VII. Short And Sweet
Dance Ste: I. Moderato
Dance Ste: II. Allegro Molto
Dance Ste: III. Allegro Vivace
Dance Ste: IV. Molto Tranquillo
Dance Ste: V. Comodo
Dance Ste: VI. Finale: Allegro
Hungarian Pictures: I. Evening In Transylvania
Hungarian Pictures: II. Bear Dance
Hungarian Pictures: III. Melody
Hungarian Pictures: IV. A Bit Tipsy
Hungarian Pictures: V. Urog Swineherd Dance
Two Pictures: I. In Full Bloom
Two Pictures: II. Village Dance
Romanian Dance: Allegro Vivace

Tracks:

Con: I. Intro: Andante Non Troppo-Allegro
Con: II. Giuoco Delle Coppie: Allegretto Scherzando
Con: III. Elegia: Andante, Non Troppo
Con: IV. Intermezzo Interrotto: Allegretto
Con: V. Finale: Pesante-Presto
The Miraculous Mandarin: Ste

Tracks:

Hary Janos: Ste: Prld/The Fairy/Tale Begins
Hary Janos: Ste: Viennese Musical Clock
Hary Janos: Ste: Song
Hary Janos: Ste: Battle And Defeat Of Napoleon
Hary Janos: Ste: Intermezzo
Hary Janos: Ste: Entrance Of The Emperor And His Court
Dances Of Galanta
Vars On A Hungarian Folksong (The Peacock)

Amazon.com

Some people are frightened by the (mostly) 20th century Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. His colorful orchestration and by turns folksy and angular rhythms and melodies seem to be cut from very exotic cloth. But there's nothing to fear--this six-CD set presents his most popular orchestral music played with authentic flair by the Hungarian State Orchestra: the two violin concerti with the excellent soloist Gerhart Hetzel, the suite from his ballet The Wooden Prince, the Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, the Concerto for Orchestra, and several other flavorful works. As a bonus, three pieces by his compatriot, Zoltán Kodály are included. A fine introduction to a master composer. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

a very welcome anthology for modest price.......2001-01-06

For many classical music lovers who are not specialists in Hungarian music - and I would count myself among them - this collection of Bartok's orchestral works along with a supplemental Kodaly disc at budget price cannot be too strongly welcomed. The Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra plays with rhythmic finesse and considerable virtuoso skill, and the direction of Adam Fischer is very fine. I will not attempt a comparison between his performances and those of Janos Ferencsik and Arpad Joo among others. The documentation is brief but well written. CD 1 has a playing time of only 39:25, but that should not seriously deter anybody. The tracking and cueing is excellent, as is the digital stereo sound. The reproduction of the painting "Preparing the meal in the wood" by A. Fenyes on the cover is very tasteful. Overall, this is a very satisfying issue.

Bartok and Kodaly in hungarian style.......2000-06-15

This 6 cd box is a very good one if you are looking for a essential Bartok, as a gift you get Kodaly too. Bartok is a master of taking folk songs and translated them to the finest classical music. The quality of recording is very good and we can imagine that the interpretation is accurate since the players are hungarians. There is a tenderness in the orchestra under Mr. Fischer that bring us a light and elegant Bartok instead of a rough one, as we can expect from folkloric music. The Romanian Folk Dances are amazing and you can imagine people dancing in the country. But the best in this collection are the violin concertos. Since I bought this box I listen the concertos many times and it is always a pleasure for soul.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Square One

Up & At 'Em: Chamber & Electroacoustic Music by Eric Moe

Wednesday Night in San Fransisco [Import]

Piano Works I - Allegro Vivace

Sixteen Men of Tain [Import]

Universal Masters Collection [Import]

Very Best of [Import] [Limited Edition]

Weber: Clarinet Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Concertino; Clarinet Quintet

too long from the sea

The Best of the Count Basie Big Band

Underachievers Please Try Harder [Enhanced]

Tristeza on Guitar

The Best [Import]

More Than I Am

Complete Savoy Master Takes