Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Concerto for Orchestra
2. Dance Suite
3. Hungarian Sketches
4. Romanian Folk Dances

Disc 2:

1. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
2. Divertimento
3. The Miraculous Mandarin - Suite

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4683 in Music
• Released on: 2002-07-08
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Box set
• Running time: 136 minutes

Customer Reviews

They don't come better than this
With one of the largest back catalogues in the business, why did Decca choose these 1981 recordings of Bartok for reissue? It's simply because they haven't been bettered, and I don't believe they ever will: During its time under the exacting Georg Solti the Chicago Symphony Orchestra attained a position as a world-class band, bearing easily all comparisons with Berlin and Vienna. When conducting Hungarian music Solti, who had been a pupil of Bartok's, always demonstrated a special authority. This shines through in the precision, eloquence and sheer expressiveness of these performances.

The Decca sound engineers of the time were the best in the business and they were well placed to take advantage when the new digital recording technology came along. It's hard to believe, listening today, that this would have been one of the earliest commercial pressings using the technique. Their trick was to capture the full power of the orchestra, whilst allowing individual instruments to be heard in their natural positions and at a believable dynamic - "close miking", with its unnatural sound levels in the quiet passages, was never detectable. The relationship between the instruments, both spatially and in volume, always sounded so authentic, but no detail was ever missed. Sadly, modern recordings just aren't as good!

I was happy to pay full price for these CDs when they first came out. Now you get both of them together as a mid-price offering. What are you waiting for?

Great Solti
Georg Solti was a wonderful interpreter of Bartok as a conductor (though a dreadful one as a pianist!) All of these recordings are from late in his career, I think the earliest is from 1980. You will hear some so called experts say his LSO recordings from the 1960s are better, don't listen. Hearing these recordings, it is as if Solti's entire life experience of conducting these masterpieces has been distilled into that moment. Essential.

Bartok - a suprise package.
I bought this on the strength of a 'loan' vinyl copy of the Concerto for Orchestra. I was attracted to this version as it was Sir George & CSR. I initially found the other pieces on this 2CD set hard going - slightly too avant garde for my tastes. However, persistance paid off and once I became more familiar, I realised what masterpieces they are.