Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin

On this CD:

1. The Miraculous Mandarin, pantomime in 1 act Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82
Composed by Bela Bartok
Performed by Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Antal Dorati

2. Music for Strings, Percussion, & Celesta, Sz. 106, BB 114
Composed by Bela Bartok
Performed by Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Antal Dorati

Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin, Music, Bela Bartok, Antal Dorati, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, 20th/21st Century Ballet, 20th/21st Century Orchestral Music, Classical, Classical Music, Orchestral

Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin; Hungarian Peasant Songs; Rumanian Folk Dances
Average customer rating:

A less horrific Miraculous Mandarin, along with many energetic dances

Savage Mandarin, Delightful Dances

Definitive "Miraculous Mandarin" and Other Great Bartok

Some Rarely Recorded Bartok and a Great Mandarin

Superb perfomances of rare Bartok and a great ballet

Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin; Hungarian Peasant Songs; Rumanian Folk Dances

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music
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Zoltán Kodály: Háry János Suite / Dances of Galánta & Marosszék / Children's Choruses - Iván Fischer / Budapest Festival Orchestra

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Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta; Hungarian Sketches

Bartok: Complete Solo Piano Music

Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies

ASIN: B0000060AV
Release Date: 1998-10-20

Tracks:

Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 100, BB 107: Ballad
Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 100, BB 107: Hungarian Peasant Dances
Hungarian Sketches, Sz. 97, BB 103: 1. An Evening At The Villlage
Hungarian Sketches, Sz. 97, BB 103: 2. Bear Dance
Hungarian Sketches, Sz. 97, BB 103: 3. Melody
Hungarian Sketches, Sz. 97, BB 103: 4. Slightly Tipsy
Hungarian Sketches, Sz. 97, BB 103: 5. Swineherd's Dance
Roumanian Folk Dances, Sz. 68, BB 76: 1. Stick Dance (From Mezoszabad)
Roumanian Folk Dances, Sz. 68, BB 76: 2. Sash Dance (From Egres)
Roumanian Folk Dances, Sz. 68, BB 76: 3. In One Spot (From Egres)
Roumanian Folk Dances, Sz. 68, BB 76: 4. Horn Dance (From Bisztra)
Roumanian Folk Dances, Sz. 68, BB 76: 5. Roumanian Polka (From Belenyes)
Roumanian Folk Dances, Sz. 68, BB 76: 6. Fast Dance (From Belenyes)
Roumanian Folk Dances, Sz. 68, BB 76: 7. Fast Dance (From Nyagra)
Dances Of Transylvania, Sz. 96, BB 102B: 1. Allegretto
Dances Of Transylvania, Sz. 96, BB 102B: 2. Moderato
Dances Of Transylvania, Sz. 96, BB 102B: 3. Allegro vivace
Roumanian Dance, Sz. 47a, BB 61
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82: Allegro
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82: Moderato (First Decoy Game)
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82: (Second Decoy Game)
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82: Sostenuto (Third Decoy Game)
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82: Maestoso
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82: Allegro
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82: Sempre vivo
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82: Adagio
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82: Agitato
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82: Molto moderato
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73, BB 82: Piu mosso

Customer Reviews:

A less horrific Miraculous Mandarin, along with many energetic dances.......2006-07-05

This CD contains a set of short Hungarian songs, but everything else is about the dance. Bartok was not just a collector of folk songs with Kodaly but an expert in dance traditions throughout the Balkans. He extended his curiosity into the Arab world of North Africa, as one can hear in the popular Dance Suite. Here we get 16 lesser-known dance collections from Romania, Transylvania, and Hungary, Mostly quite brief, they build from a fascinating palette of rhythms, each more exotically syncopated than the last. Fischer and his Budapest orchestra perform them with complete ease and native flavor.

Even without the fillers, however, the main work is superbly done. The Miraculous Mandarin ballet has been called Bartok's response to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. But superficial resemblances aside in terms of motor rhythms and dissonant harmonies, the Mandarin is a more shocking, horrific scenario, featuring sexual craving, torture, despair, and a suicide by hanging. Most condcutors set out to maximize the shock value of this often barbaric-sounding music, but Fischer is comparatively less aggressive. He loosens the tension a notch, letting the rhythms become more lilting--even comic in their macabre way--and asking the woodwinds to sing as much as screech. As a result, we don't feel quite so assaulted, and for me that led to more enjoyment. He is aided by exceptionally clear, natural sonics from Philips that convey the music with wonderful impact.

Savage Mandarin, Delightful Dances.......2006-01-27

I bought this recording based on hearings of some of Fischer's other recordings, primarily for the Miraculous Mandarin. I was not disappointed, but I was delightfully surprised at how much I enjoyed the other works which I had not heard previously. The recording quality and playing are first-rate, and Fischer's interpretation of the music is superb, easily the equal of Boulez and Dorati. I would recommend this version of the Mandarin as my first choice for someone seeking a recording of it.

Definitive "Miraculous Mandarin" and Other Great Bartok.......2001-05-02

Having just heard this recording in its entirety, I'm not surprised that Ivan Fischer is a sought after guest conductor for some of the world's great orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic. Here he conducts Bartok with much warmth and compassion. I thought Abbado's version of "Miraculous Mandarin" was superb until I heard Fischer's. Although the Budapest Festival Orchestra's level of playing isn't as refined as either the London Symphony Orchestra's or Berlin Philharmonic's, they perform Bartok's music with tremendous energy and compassion. It's a pleasure hearing rarely performed Bartok in conjunction with the entire score of "Miraculous Mandarin". If you want a first-rate introduction to Bartok's orchestral music, you should definitely acquire this fine CD.

Some Rarely Recorded Bartok and a Great Mandarin.......2001-01-06

Ivan Fischer is a Bartok expert in the tradition of Sir Georg Solti, Fritz Reiner and Antal Dorati. Like the former conductors, he has insights into the music of his countrymen that give his performances the force of authority. The recording of the Miraculous Mandarin was the initial offering by Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra and has been followed up with other equally significant recordings of Bartok and Kodaly.

With this recording, Fischer has given us some Bartok that is not recorded with much frequency, particularly the Hungarian Peasant Songs and the Dances of Transylvania. These short orchestral works were inspired from Bartok's folk song collecting trips. They are central to Bartok's development as a composer, and we are lucky that so many of these short pieces have been collected here.

The recording of the Miraculous Mandarin is superbly done, bringing out the hard edge of this ballet about a group of thugs who force a woman to lure their victims to them. Bartok found the scenario for this work printed in a magazine. The music has a hard edge to it, a gritty depiction of the events of the ballet. Bartok makes effective use of the orchestra in the hesitation of the girl, at first, to seduce men to be robbed. The mandarin's appearance, his pursuit of the girl and his eerie death are given force by the dissonant themes Bartok juxtaposes.

Ivan Fischer gives the score a great reading that will be almost impossible to beat. Even if you already have a copy of the Miraculous Mandarin you will also want to own this one.

Superb perfomances of rare Bartok and a great ballet.......2000-04-01

This Bartok album from conductor Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra is a real treat. It brings wonderful performances of Bartok not often recorded...even Boulez hasn't recorded some of these pieces in his Bartok survery.

In addition to the colorfully, zesty performances of these rare Bartok gems, this dics has (to my mind) the best performance of the Complete Mircaculous Mandarin Ballet out on CD. The orchestra and conduct go for color and refinement rather than sheer power. The opening bristles with excitement, and the chase shows the orchestra in fine form at a tempo that is daringly fast. In this case it works. It is clear that conductor and orchestra are very much home in these works of Bartok. For a complete Mandarin I would say that this is now first choice...even over the excellant Boulez version for DG. The playing in this ballet is some of the best I've heard (only the Berlin Philharmonic in their recording of the suite...not complete ballet...plays better).

Perhaps until the BPO makes a complete recording with Abbado or Rattle...this is the Mandarin to get I would say.

Tracks:

I. Allegro
II. Turandot, Scherzo (Moderate - Lively)
III. Andantino
IV. March
I. Massig Schnell, Mit Kraft - Sehr Breit, Aber Stets Fliessend
II. Lebhaft - Langsam - Im Ersten Zeitmass (Lebhaft)
The Miraculous Mandarin - Suite, Op.19

Customer Reviews:

On the Subject of Hindemith..........2005-07-10

When Eugene Ormandy was at the helm of the Philadelphia Orchestra he was a master of the big sounds that so occupy the works of Paul Hindemith and Bela Bartok. This CD is a fine sounding reproduction of 1979 recordings made by this ensemble and director. The rarely heard 'Concert Music for Stings and Brass' is a welcome addition to the Hindemith recorded repertoire: it is exciting and edgy and Ormandy flings into the air with aplomb.

Ormandy's conducting proclivity for favoring the big string sound keeps this 'Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Weber' somewhat grounded. The playing is superb if a bit thick in sound. But the performance of Bartok's 'Miraculous Mandarin Suite' was one of the best of its time.

This is a solid recording, perhaps not up to the sonic standards of today, but at the budget price it deserves to gain a place in the libraires of all music lovers of 2oth Century music. Grady Harp, July 05

Excellent!.......2005-06-17

I love Hindemith. I like playing many of his solo works, but his orchestral works are true masterpieces. This is greatly shown on this Ormandy recording. The brass is so full and harmonous and the woodwinds have many tonal and dynamic shadings. The first movement has to be my favorite, it has so much energy and flair.
The Miraculous Mandarin Suite is also very well done, the clarinet solo is fantastic.

Brilliant Budget Buy.......2005-05-02

Don't you just love it when classic recordings get reissued on CD at a budget price?! Such is the case with this title in EMI's "Encore" series featuring Hindemith and Bartok orchestral works by conductor Eugene Ormandy leading the Philadelphia Orchestra in analog stereo performances from 1978. After many productive years at Columbia, and a shorter but no less brilliant tenure at RCA, Ormandy took the Philadelphians briefly to EMI before ending his career at Sony. I bought this CD primarily because I have never had the opportunity to hear Ormandy perform either of the two Hindemith pieces featured here -- Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber and Concert Music for Strings and Brass. I do however own his earlier account of Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin Suite reissued on Sony Essential Classics and I have to say I prefer the first incarnation. However, with classical budget lines beginning to inexplicably disappear (including the aforementioned Sony "Essential Classics" series -- what's up with that?!), I'm delighted that EMI continues to make great recordings available at such an inexpensive price through series such as "Gemini" and "Encore."

Béla Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin / Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta - Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Pierre Boulez

Average customer rating:

ONE OF BARTOK'S MASTERPIECES.
Darkly Beautiful
Boulez and Bartok, a great combination
A Disk For People Who Dislike Music
Essential Bartok

Béla Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin / Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta - Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Pierre Boulez

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra / 4 Orchestral Pieces - Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez
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Béla Bartók: Divertimento / Dance Suite / Hungarian Sketches / Two Pictures - Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez
Bartok: The Piano Concertos
Stravinsky: The Firebird/Fantaisie for Orchestra Op.4/Four Studies

ASIN: B000001GR9
Release Date: 1996-04-09

Tracks:

The Miraculous Mandarian: 01 Beginning
The Miraculous Mandarian: 02 First seduction game: the shabby old rake
The Miraculous Mandarian: 03 Second seduction game
The Miraculous Mandarian: 04 Third seduction game
The Miraculous Mandarian: 05 The Mandarin enters and remains immobile in the doorway
The Miraculous Mandarian: 06 The girl sinks down to embrace him
The Miraculous Mandarian: 07 The tramps leap out, seize the Mandarin and tear him away from the girl
The Miraculous Mandarian: 08 Suddenly the Mandarin's head appears between the pillows and he looks longingly at the girl
The Miraculous Mandarian: 09 The terrified tramps discuss how they are to get red of the Mandarin at last
The Miraculous Mandarian: 10 The body of the Mandarin begins to glow with a greenish blue light
The Miraculous Mandarian: 11 She resists no longer, - they embrace
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Sz 106: 1 Andante tranquillo
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Sz 106: 2 Allegro
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Sz 106: 3 Adagio
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Sz 106: 4 Allegro molto

Amazon.com essential recording

The Miraculous Mandarin is, along with Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, one of the great expressions of musical savagery, and here the composer illustrates the "urban jungle." The music opens with sounds of traffic and commotion, and it's an expressionist nightmare from that point on. Three men mug a woman and force her to lure men into their den to be robbed in turn. One of them turns out to be a wealthy Chinese man whose passion for the woman is so strong that, despite being stabbed, suffocated, and strung up on a lamp cord, he will not die until the woman permits him to embrace her. Then his wounds open and he bleeds to death. Quite a story, and the music, as well as this performance, suits it perfectly. Have fun. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

ONE OF BARTOK'S MASTERPIECES........2004-05-28

I think I'm kind of an idiot about classical music, so I can only make basic comments here. Music for Percussion, Strings, and Celesta is one of Bartok's greatest works, and as such is one of the greatest works in all of Western music. Despite the ostensible eminence the celesta is given in the title of the piece, the dominant keyboard instrument is piano, which is part of the percussion ensemble that serves as the anchor for two string sections. The piece is an amazing exploration of opposites, especially its use of chromatic and diatonic elements. The first movement is a chromatic fugue for strings, and Bartok's use of changing meters gives it a watery effect. From the first movement you can already tell it is one of Bartok's best compositions, simply because every note is so exceptionally placed and the flow is so natural. The second movement is an exhilarating allegro, a tight mesh of melodic themes manipulated with rhythmic and metric variation. The third movement is intensely chromatic "night music" with obscure tonality and fragmentary melodies. Best of all, the fourth movement, where diatonic considerations come to the fore and it is the most varied in rhythm, melody, and pitch, but still structurally sublime. Throughout the piece, the key subjects are changed into new subjects, which undergo their own changes, and eventually morphing back into previous themes. This is done with such uncanny perfection that the music really feels like it takes you places. I know that sounds cheesy. I won't discuss _The Miraculous Mandarin_, though it is very good as well.

Get this if you want to hear a divine performance of one of the musical universe's greatest treasures. (Sorry for the CAPS above, I know it's annoying.)

Darkly Beautiful.......2003-04-06

In response to one of the reviews posted here, I must disagree with the statement that Boulez's conducting makes these works "cynical, pedantic and profoundly ugly." But then, I've never heard the Leonard Bernstein version of The Miraculous Mandarin, so he may have a point (please note sarcasm).

These pieces are conducted in a very unromantic style that suits these works well in particular, and Bartok's entire output in general. There's nothing conventionally "pretty" at all about these works. But they are both truly beautiful, in a profoundly dark sense. The Miraculous Mandarin depicts the violence and the desperation of the story it is based upon, while the Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta is possibly the greatest orchestral work of the twentieth-century. Vivaldi this is not.

Boulez and Bartok, a great combination.......2002-02-12

No one handle Bartok better in our time like Boulez (Fischer and Salonen runners up).

"Music for strings, percussion and celesta" is one of last centures greatest work and Boulez and Orchestra do this fantastic. The "The miraculous mandarin" is a bonus and also one of Bartoks greatest. Great sound too.

Buy this version and you have a (two) masterpiece (s).

A Disk For People Who Dislike Music.......2001-07-28

Maestro Boulez has a fantastic ear, good technique, and a formidable intellect. He has one slight impediment to conducting: he doesn't care for music very much. Or at least not music that embodies thought and feeling. Music for Strings is one of the most sublime testaments in Western music. The shattering climax of the first movement couldn't make Bartok's meaning plainer. But you'll never learn that from this perverse rendition. Boulez deliberately ignores the forceful accents, smoothing over them because he finds strong accents sentimental and stupid. The result is cynical, pedantic, and profoundly ugly. And the less said of this decidedly less than Miraculous Mandarin, the better. Any recording by a conductor who sympathizes with this music is preferable.

Essential Bartok.......2001-02-05

On this disc are two of Bartok's greatest works. The first, The Miraculous Mandarin, is one of his most violent and suggestive. It is very vivid music, painting a palpably clear orchestral picture of the sex and violence of Lengyel's scenario. This is Bartok at his best; blaring brass, screaming strings, pounding percussion. There are also many moments of extreme delicacy; the clarinet solo of the young woman seducing male passers-by, or the moment when the Mandarin's body begins to glow, heightened by a low, wordless chorus. The vivid orchestral storytelling of Mandarin is offset by one of Bartok's most abstract pieces, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. This is another Bartok masterpiece. Pierre Boulez conducts Bartok's music very well, and this is no exception. Due to the great quality of the playing, conducting, recording and the music itself, and the fact that there are so few complete Mandarins on the market, I would suggest you pick this one up as soon as possible.

Average customer rating:

GRRRREAT!!!
Great introduction!

Heavy Classix, Vol. 2

Manufacturer: Angel Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Heavy Classix
25 Thunderous Classics
Thunder & Lightning
Living In Oblivion : The 80's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
Time Life Presents: Classical Thunder

ASIN: B000002SOM
Release Date: 1994-03-15

Tracks:

O'Fortuna (from Carmina Burana) - Phil Chor
The Alien God and the Dance of the Evil Spirits (from Scythian Ste, Op.20) - Simon Rattle/City Of Birmingham SO
Circuses (from Feste Romane) - Mariss Jansons/Olso PO
Symphony No.5 in d, Op.47: IV. Allegro non troppo (exc) - Mariss Jansons/Olso PO
Danse de la terre (from The Rite of Spring) - Riccardo Muti/Philidelphia Orch
Night on Bald Mountain (exc) - Mariss Jansons/Olso PO
Finlandia (exc) - Herbert von Karajan/Berlin PO
In the Hall of the Mountain King (from Peer Gynt) - Ambrosian Singers
Die Walkure (Prelude to Act I) - Bernard Haitink/Bavarian RSO
The Miraculous Mandarin (exc) - Eugene Ormandy/PO
Le Chasseur Maudit (exc) - Riccardo Muti/Philidelphia Orch
Glorification de L'Eleu (from The Rite of Spring) - Riccardo Muti/Philidelphia Orch
Danse generale (from Daphnis et Chloe, Ste No.2) - Mariss Jansons/Olso PO
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (exc) - Mariss Jansons/Olso PO
Dance of the Mountaineers (from Gayne Ballet) - Yuri Temirkanov/Royal PO
Sym No.6 in b, Op.74 'Pathetique': I. Allegro non troppo (exc) - Riccardo Muti/PO
Sinf: I. Allegretto - Simon Rattle/PO
The Death of Tybalt (from Romeo and Juliet) - Riccardo Muti/Philidelphia Orch
Sym No.10 in e, Op.93: II. Alllegro - Simon Rattle/PO
Danse sacrale (from The Rite of Spring) - Riccardo Muti/Philidelphia Orch
Manfred Sym, Op.58: I. Andante (exc) - Riccardo Muti/PO

Customer Reviews:

GRRRREAT!!!.......2006-10-25

This CD and the first Heavy Classix are some of the greatest compilations of powerful brassy classical music ever! None of that wussy string concerto stuff, just plain gusto, the kind of music you want to play at top volume with the windows rolled down so everyone will know what kind of god you are. (IMHO) I LOVE this cd and so will you...they're hard to find nowadays...so get yours while you can!

Great introduction!.......2000-04-14

The Heavy Classix CDs were my introduction to classical music, and it was a very successful introduction. Beginning with 'O Fortuna' (which you might recognize from any one of several movies including Excalibur) and continuing through a number of high-powered tracks, some of which (Finlandia, Sorcerers Apprentice) might be familiar to you, Heavy Classix 2 and its companion Heavy Classix are great places to learn about classical music and dispel yourself of the notion that classical music is boring.

Bartok: The Miraculous Mandarin/Kodály: Háry Janos/Dances Of Galánta

Average customer rating:

Bartok: The Miraculous Mandarin/Kodály: Háry Janos/Dances Of Galánta

Manufacturer: Delos Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000006X7
Release Date: 1992-12-11

Tracks:

The Miraculous Mandarin (Complete Ballet): Introduction
Hary Janos (Suite From The Opera): Prelude
Hary Janos (Suite From The Opera): The Viennese Musical Clock
Hary Janos (Suite From The Opera): Song
Hary Janos (Suite From The Opera): Battle And Defeat Of Napoleon
Hary Janos (Suite From The Opera): Intermezzo
Hary Janos (Suite From The Opera): Entry Of The Emperor And His Court
Dances Of Galanta

Stravinsky: Petrushka; Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin [Australia]

Average customer rating:

Stravinsky: Petrushka; Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin [Australia]
Dohnanyi , and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music
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Stravinsky: Firebird; Bartók: Two Portraits [Australia]

ASIN: B0006OPW9E
Release Date: 2005-05-16

Tracks:

Fete Populaire De La Semaine Grasse
Chez Petrouchka
Chez La Maure
Fete Populaire De La Semaine Grasse (Vers Le Soir)
Shrovetide Fair (Evening)
First Decoy Game (Moderato)
Second Decoy Game
Third Decoy Game (Sostenuto)
Maestoso
Allegro
Sempre Vivo
Adagio
Agitato
Molto Moderato
Piu Mosso

Album Details

Dohnanyi's Pair of Recordings Coupling Stravinsky and Bartok Present Him and the Vienna Philharmonic at their Scintillating, Dramatic Best. Here is One of the Most Exciting Accounts of Petrushka Ever to Be Committed to Disc and the Sordid Tale of the Miraculous Mandarin is Sharply Etched in this Vigorous Performance.

Rafael Kubelik conducts Dvorák, Smetana, Mussorgsky, Bartók, Hindemith, Schoenberg

Average customer rating:

The Mussorgsky is a Delight
A nice collection of performances, but mixed sonics from 50 years ago
Kubelik's Classic MLP Recordings Are Back!

Rafael Kubelik conducts Dvorák, Smetana, Mussorgsky, Bartók, Hindemith, Schoenberg

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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Bartok: Orchestral Works; Bluebeard's Castle
Paul Paray Conducts French Orchestral Music

ASIN: B000A5DLPQ
Release Date: 2005-09-13

Tracks:

I. Adagio-Allegro
II. Andante
III. Presto
I. Adagio-Allegro Molto
II. Largo
III. Scherzo: Molto Vivace
IV. Allegro Con Fuoco

Tracks:

The High Castle
The Moldau
Sarka
From Bohemia's Meadows And Forests
Tabor
Blanik

Tracks:

Promenade
Gnomus
Promenade
Il Vecchio Castello
Promenade
Tuileries
Bydlo
Promenade
Ballet Des Poussins Dans Leurs Coques
Samuel Goldenberg Und Schmuyle
Limoges-Le Marche
Catacombae (Sepulchrum Romanum)
Cum Mortuis In Lingua Mortua
La Cabane Sur Des Pattes De Poule
La Grande Porte De Kiev
I. Andante Tranquillo - Irwin Fischer
II. Allegro - Irwin Fischer
III. Adagio - Irwin Fischer
IV. Allegro Molto - Irwin Fischer

Tracks:

I. Allegro
II. Turandot: Scherzo
III. Andantino
IV. Marsch
I. Premonitions
II. Yesteryears
III. Summer Morning By A Lake
IV. Peripetia
V. The Obbligato Recitative
Variations On A Hungarian Folksong 'The Peacock' - Antal Dorati
Suite From 'The Miraculous Mandarin' - Antal Dorati

Customer Reviews:

The Mussorgsky is a Delight .......2006-10-26

I am not an "audio expert", but I do know what I like. And I love this CD. I heard this recording of Mussorgksy's "Pictures From an Exhibition" on an NPR program from The Chicago Symphony. I was very taken with the clarity of sound. I searched for the recording through Amazon and I am absolutely delighted. It is a four dsic set, but I haven't gone on to the other recordings (yet) becasue I keep re-playing this lovely piece. I hope you enjoy it.

A nice collection of performances, but mixed sonics from 50 years ago.......2006-06-01

Audiophiles adore the Mercury Living Presence series issued throughout the early Fifties and Sixties, but for those of us who aren't specialty collectors, it's pretty clear that not evreything on MLP is a gem. This valuable colleciton (mono only) from the doomed tenure of Rafael Kubelik with the Chicago Sym.--he lasted only a few years before the local critic's stinging rebukes sent Kubelik packing in favor of Fritz Reiner--deserves detailed appraisal.

CD 1: Kubelik was a lively, stylish Mozartean, and this 1953 Sym. #38 is quite lovely. It's more streamlined than Walter's recordings of the "Prague," but cut form the same affectionate cloth. The recording, however, is thin and shrill. I found it uncomfortable to listen to except at low volume.

Kubelik recorded Dvorak's "New World" musltiple times; this Chicago reading dates from 1951 and is caught in sharp mono sonics with a bit too much stinging treble for my ears. Even so, there are those who think this lively, rather lean performance is one of Kubelik's best. I'm not sure that it's so special that one should do without stereo, but the choice is personal. The CSO plays superbly, and the general contour of the interpretation is straightforward.

CD 2 is entirely given over to Smetana's Ma Vlast, another Kubelik specialty that he recorded multiple times. This 1952 recording sounds identical to the Dvorak on CD 1--a deep soundstage with lots of dynamic range. The interpretation is essentially moderate and unexaggerated. It's certainly stylish and has real sweep, too. In terms of dramatic impact CD 2 is far ahead of CD 1.

CD 3: Curiously, there are audiophile purists who insist that the Golden Age of 50's mono produced better sound than any current digital recording. If that's a viable position (few outside the cult agree), the works on this CD are prime evidence. Kubelik's Pictures at an Exhibition and Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta were recorded in the spring of 1951. They are vivid and colorful, with tangy wind choirs and plenty of dynamic impact. Kubelik proves a restless, almost nervous interpreter of the Mussorgsky, which refreshes this warhose. Neither the recording nor the CSO's playing really matches the later, legendary RCA performance under Reiner, but Kubelik's reading has more sinew and rhythmic spring to it. He brings the same qualities to the Bartok, which gets a wiry "modernist" interpretation that's very appealing, less offical-sounding than the famous Reiner account.

CD 4: At the start of this CD we are back to the thin sound of CD 1 (both were recorded in 1953 with the same Telefunken 201 micropone). For some reason, however, this disc can be played at louder volume without treble sting. Kubelik's Hindemith Symphonic Meatmorphoses is lean and propulsive. This is a refreshing take, but without gorgeous stereo sound the coloristic aspects of this showpiece can't be fully apreciated.

Being too much of a modernist was a prime factor in getting Kubelik fired, which is all the more unfair because his Schoenberg Five Pieces for Orchestra is a standout, almost the performance of a lifetime. I hope somebody in the conservative Chicago audience appreciated how seductive and witty this performance was; if Schoenerg's masterpiece has ever sounded more like Daphnis and Chloe, I don't know when.

The last two works were recorded in 1954, at the tail end of Kubelik's stay, and the sound remains a bit shrieky. But his itnerpretations of Kodaly's Peacock Variations and Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin Suite are excellent, full of energy and fierceness in the Bartok, making it as scary as the composer intended. Playing the shrill mono recording at full volume is impossibly masochistic on the ears, but the reading is terrific.

Chicago was lucky--they exchanged a near-great conductor for a great one. Mercury, however, lost the best conductor it would ever have, moving on to Dorati and Paray and even more audiophile cult delights.

Kubelik's Classic MLP Recordings Are Back!.......2005-09-14

Those familiar with my reviews on Amazon know of my great love for the Mercury Living Presence series. Equally great is my disgust that so many of these brilliant recordings have been deleted in the last few years! Thankfully, some of these legendary performances are resurfacing, and while the single disc titles are unfortunately listed at full-price, it is wonderful to see the various multi-disc sets basically being sold at budget line. With this 4CD reissue, Rafael Kubelik's legendary recordings with the Chicago Symphony are restored to the catalog, as only his 1952 rendition of Smetana's "Ma Vlast" was currently in print. (Please note that the performances of Kodaly's "Peacock Variations" and Bartok's "Miraculous Mandarin" Suite are with Antal Dorati leading the same orchestra.) To illustrate how prized these recordings are by collectors, the extremely rare original CD issue coupling the Moussorgsky/Ravel "Pictures at an Exhibition" with Bartok's "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta" has been known to fetch twice the price of this new set in the Amazon Marketplace! Buying this collection for the Pictures performance alone is worthwhile, as it was the recording that led a critic to coin the phrase "Living Presence," from which the Mercury named its series. Of course getting memorable accounts of Dvorak's 9th and Mozart's 38th Symphonies, Hindemith's "Symphonic Metamorphosis" and Schoenberg's Five Pieces, Op. 16 is just icing on the cake. Once again, Mercury Living Presence lives!

Average customer rating:

Engineer's Choice
Bela Bartok , David Diamond , Ottorino Respighi , Falla, Manuel de , Ravel, Maurice , James DePreist , Schwarz, Gerard , Wagner, Roger , Shifrin, David , and Davidovich, Bella
Manufacturer: Delos Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Engineer's Choice II

ASIN: B00000071F
Release Date: 1992-05-22

Tracks:

Symphony No. 10: Scherzo
Gimpel The Fool: 'Jester's Song And Mazel Tov'
Through The Looking Glass: Looking-Glass Insects
Grand Canyon Suite: Sunset
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Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin/Concerto For Orchestra

Average customer rating:

Good Cd

Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin/Concerto For Orchestra

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000003FHK
Release Date: 1994-06-14

Tracks:

The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): Allegro - Saint Louis SO/Leonard Slatkin
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): First Decoy Game - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): Second Decoy Game - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): Third Decoy Game - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): General Consternation-'The Tramps Make Signs From Their... - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): 'At Last She Overcomes Her Reluctance And Begins A... - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): A Tempo (Meno Mosso) - Saint Louis SO/Leonard Slatkin
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): 'The Girl Sinks To Embrace Him; He Begins To Tremble In... - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): 'The Tramps Leap Out, Seize The Mandarin And Tear Him... - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): 'Suddenly The Mandarin's Head Appears Between The... - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): 'Suddenly He Draws Himself Up And Leaps At The Girl... - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): 'They Drag The Resisting Mandarin To The Centre Of The... - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): 'The Body Of The Mandarin Begins To Glow With A Greenish... - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19 (Sz73): The Mandarin's Longing Is Now Stilled, His Wounds Begin... - Saint Louis Sym Chor/Thomas Peck
Con For Orch: Intro: Andante Non Troppo; Allegro Vivace - Saint Louis SO/Leonard Slatkin
Con For Orch: Giuoco Delle Coppie: Allegretto Scherzando - Saint Louis SO/Leonard Slatkin
Con For Orch: Elegia: Andante Non Troppo - Saint Louis SO/Leonard Slatkin
Con For Orch: Intermezzo Interrotto: Allegretto - Saint Louis SO/Leonard Slatkin
Con For Orch: Finale: Presto (Up To Bar 573) - Saint Louis SO/Leonard Slatkin
Con For Orch: Finale: Alternative Ending - Saint Louis SO/Leonard Slatkin
Con For Orch: Finale: Original Ending - Saint Louis SO/Leonard Slatkin

Amazon.com

The Miraculous Mandarin features what has to be the most exciting chase scene in all of music. Although describing a terrified woman pursued by a lust-crazed Chinese man, the music sounds more like a science fiction/horror extravaganza in which the heroine gets chased by a hoard of demonic alien creatures. Perhaps that's Bartók's point. Leonard Slatkin conducts this terrifying scene--and the whole score--with uninhibited ferocity. It's intensely exciting, and with a very fine Concerto for Orchestra making a generous coupling, that means two major works on one disc. A good deal for great music, but don't listen to the Mandarin in the dark! --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Good Cd.......2001-07-07

This CD has two great pieces by Bela Bartok. The performance of The Miraculous Mandarin is exhilarating, while the Concerto is well done. Slatkin leads the St. Louis orchestra into these very dark pieces.

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; The Miraculous Mandarin [SACD]

Average customer rating:

Magnificent Mandarin!
Good SACD, could have been better
Splendid on SACD!!
Where have all the channels gone?
Where have all the channels gone?

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; The Miraculous Mandarin [SACD]

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00006B1NE
Release Date: 2002-07-30

Customer Reviews:

Magnificent Mandarin!.......2005-10-25

With The Miracolous Mandarin Bartók sought an approach to the symphonic genre although he did not want to recognize. Maybe because the Symphony as musical device was not precisely living its major glory. These transient times announced dark clouds in the imminent future. The nationalism fever, that fed the destiny of so many people was collapsing, acquiring now a new face and arousing the ancient and hidden social resentments specially on the East World: China and Russia.

In this sense Bartók worked out as true shaman. It does not sound exaggerate to state it. Bartok was an illustrated man and his rough dissonances are not entirely a product of his febrile imagination. He knew and felt as many others artists, something terrible was in the verge of the social environment.

Boulez 's performance revives with magnificent lucidity this ferocious sense of obscure moods and sinister horizons. His commitment level about Bartok deserves him to be named adjoined to Ferenc Fricsay, Antal Dorati, Frtz Reiner with an additional acknowledgment; those works were played three decades after the WW2. Nevertheless, Boulez, having born in 1925 was exceptional witness of the horror and the anguish of those times and with accurate expression sense knew to express it with superb eloquence.

That 's why you must acquire this set. Simply out of context. Boulez was mesmerized and that vision can be felt since the first bar. One of the most remarkable recordings of his career. It 's useless to talk the splendor of the new York Philharmonic playing these works; absolutely incandescent.

In what Concerto for Orchestra concerns, forget about it: there are majuscule versions: Reiner-Pittsburgh is to me, the most splendid and perfect achievement ever recorded; Dorati London and Fricsay Rias are just enough to fill your entire collection in this sense. Boluez does not reach the level in this score, that' s why I can not give it five stars.

Absolutely recommended.

Good SACD, could have been better.......2005-01-29

I must admit that I really bought this for the Miraculous Mandarin which is one of my favourite pieces. The best recording of the Suite is Georg Solti's on Decca, which comes achieves the visceral quality that this music really needs. But I wanted a good recording of the complete ballet, preferably on SACD, so this recording seemed a good bet. The reviews on Amazon.com were good, and I thought Boulez would be a good interpreter of this music, so I took a chance on it.

The Miracuolous Mandarin is wonderful, visceral, hard-hitting, strident music, somewhat in the vein of the Rite of Spring. The rushing street scene at the beginning with it's scurrying violins playing augmented octaves and chattering woodwind playing tritones should sweep you up and unsettle you from the first. And the entrance of the Mandarin, blasted out on trombones and horns, again playing the tritone figure, should pin you to the settee. Late on in the piece, the entrance of the wordless choir as the Mandarin, hung by the theives from a light fitting, starts to glow, should be utterly unearthly and prickle the hairs on the back of you neck. Unfortunately, whilst this music is beautifully played here, it remains a tad too polite, and never sweeps you along as it should. Solti, perhaps because of his firey Hungarian temprement acheives the right feel, but unfortunately the Suite finishes halfway through the piece, so some of the best music is excluded.

The concerto orchestra for which most people will buy this disc is better, it is easier music after all. The same beautiful playing is evident, with Boulez's usual precision being very evident. But for this reason it is also a little too polite.

The Concerto was a quadrophonic recording originally, so this should have been made for high-res surround sound. Unfortunately, as with too many other SACD and DVD-A recordings of classical music, the suround mix is a bit shy of using the rear channels. So rather than being immersed in the music, you feel like you're listening to a stereo recording with a bit af rustling from behind your head. I'm an orchestral musician and like to feel in the middle of the mix; I wish producers were a bit more adventurous in using the surround channels. This business ofusing the rear channels for ambient effects is frustrating and ineffectual. I found myself listening to the Stereo layer through the Pro-Logic II music setting on my receiver in order to try and acheive a more "wrap-around" sound.

Splendid on SACD!!.......2003-12-05

Don't be distracted by Mr. "Where are the Channels"...they are all there! This SACD has been very tastefully mixed for 5.1 surround. Subtle use of the rear speaks gives a sense of sitting in the concert hall with only the reverb gently splashing off the rear hall walls. How else should it sound? The orchestra would be in front, right? Nice spread of sound using center channel as well and of course, the performance is outstanding. Very jaw-dropping in terms of when this recording was made too. Hats off again to Sony!

Where have all the channels gone?.......2002-09-10

OK, let me make one thing clear -- if it weren't for the botched mixdown/transfer of this I would have given it 5 stars. The performance is stellar -- definitive. The problem is how the original intent of this recording became perverted.

This was released in the early 70s as a quadraphonic product, either as SQ encoded LP or discrete four channel 8 track (ok this was not the best thing for Columbia to have done, they should have used discrete reel to reel in those days)

Despite the generally atrocious sound quality of the 8 track... the spatial effect of this true surround (surrounded by the orchestra) sound comes through and literally adds a dimension most concertgoers or home listeners can't experience otherwise.

When I heard of SACD multichannel capabilities I was so in hopes that the great quad recordings of the 70s would be resurrected with the digital sound clarity of today. When I saw that this particular recording had been reissued in this format, I thought I had found the Holy Grail!

Imagine my disappointment when I put on the SACD and immediately realized that I was hearing a mostly stereo, "flat" version of what had been glorious four channel sound!! Yes, they remixed this so that it uses the middle speaker (just useless for this sort of thing, IMHO) and what little signal (could barely be heard) there was to the rear speakers was a vague attempt at supplying hall acoustics, possibly added on artificially.

Why must engineers screw with perfection?? I hate the sort of faddish approach to music reproduction that we seem to blindly follow. Automatically, they try to make this fit today's home theater market, which, if I had to guess, consists of a lot of people who do manage to hook up the middle speaker, but find running wires to the back of the room for the surround to be troublesome and so don't bother with it. What Sony should realize though, is that just about anyone with SACD is going to be more serious about their multichannel sound and will likely have good back (side) speaker placement

I so hope Sony will realize their mistake and redo this or at least make it available in the original form to those of us who want the old four channel sound reproduced!

Where have all the channels gone?.......2002-09-10

I so hope Sony will realize their mistake and redo this or at least make it available in the original form to those of us who want the old four channel sound reproduced!

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