The Best of
Béla
BARTÓK (1881-1945)
6 Romanian Folkdances, Sz 56 (1915) Balasz Szokolay, piano
Violin Concerto 2, Sz112, 2nd mov. Gyorgy Pauk, Polish National Radio
Symphony Orchestra - Antoni Wit
Allegro barbaro, Sz49, Balasz Szokolay, piano
Sonata for Solo Violin, Sz 114, mov III, Gyorgy Pauk
Concerto for Orchestra, Sz 116, movs IV/V; BRT PO Brussels/Alexander
Rahbari
Piano Concerto No. 3 Sz 119, mov II, Jeno Jando, Budapest SO/Andras
Ligeti
Contrasts, Sz 111, mov. I, Pauk/Berkes/Jando
Viola Concerto (revised) Sz 120, movs II-III; Hong-Mei Xiao, Budapest
PO/Janos Kovacs
44 Duos for Two Violins, Sz 98 Book IV/I; Pauk/Sawa
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Sz 106, mov. IV; BRT PO
Brussels/Alexander Rahbari
Various locations
Naxos 8.556693
[74.00]
Crotchet
Amazon
UK
Amazon
US
No-one really had quite had the nerve to bring out a Bartok's Greatest Hits,
but Naxos have tried in their own 'Best Of' series. And they have a point.
The shock of the old can still knock Classic FM listeners (or even the milder
Brian Kay ones) off their musically feather-weighted nests.
This is the ideal CD to introduce to those who still find Bartok challenging.
It's well-programmed from what happens to be one of Naxos's treasures, their
Bartók discography (so good that one disc, containing the two
Rhapsodies and early Piano Quintet isn't represented). The
ubiquitous 6 Romanian Folkdances of 1915, played by Balasz Szokolay,
on the piano, may not contain harmonically those astonishing high keening
notes that wail like the hungry ghosts of the dead in the violin version.
Otherwise, the now Naxos-neglected Szokolay plays marvellously. Indeed it
was these performances that tinged Brian Hunt's March 2001 BBC Music Magazine
article on Naxos, which was otherwise very positive. He asserts that Naxos
have abandoned several outstanding artists, for no good reason other than
they can't think of repertoire for them. Szokolay clashes with Jando. And
Jando has won. Hunt's right, and to underline insult, Szokolay is back with
a spirited Allegro barbaro. In between, the more exposed Gyorgy Pauk
plays the first of several items, here the Violin Concerto No. 2,
2nd movement. He was regarded as having not quite lived up to expectations,
perhaps in the finale. There's no trace of that here.
After the second Szokolay, Pauk returns with the middle of the haunting
Sonata for Solo Violin, commissioned by Menuhin in 1944. He plays
poised on the edge of a vanished world, and sounds as if he might disappear
into it. It's a very generous acoustic so he's perhaps saved by wandering
through the aural image. The BRT PO Brussels/Alexander Rahbari band make
the first of two spirited interjections, here with the last two movements
of the Concerto for Orchestra, given with great raspberry-blowing
humour when the Shostakovich 7th Symphony cavalry arrives. The sound, too,
is fine. As is, notably, that in the Jando-handed Piano Concerto No. 3,
whose improved Naxos recording reviewers greeted with relief when it emerged
with the two other piano concertos in 1994. BBC Music Magazine went as far
as to say its only rival was the Anda, in worse sound, and Jando's was now
the best version. Well, Schiff came along, and Anda is pretty unbeatable
but it's still one of the best three recordings. If you could programme the
concertos in reverse order, your proverbial maiden aunt/computer nephew mightn't
get so frightened.
The first movement of Contrasts, with Pauk/Berkes/Jando, again comes
from a highly-praised disc containing the two violin sonatas. This has terrific
punch, the raucous nagging of the recruiting song. Next the Viola
Concerto (revised version) with movements II-III; Hong-Mei Xiao, a name
new to me, with the Budapest PO under Janos Kovacs played with zest and perhaps
occasional roughness. A pity they couldn't have included the whole concerto,
which might have helped sales. Some astonishing wailing sounds emanating
from the viola show how revised this was from the original copek-plain Tibor
Serly rendition. The excerpt from the 44 Duos for Two Violins, Book
IV/I with the Pauk/Sawa team comes from the opposite end of the string spectrum,
though more often the viola is the ruminant rustic. This track is a slow
colliding, remarkably rich entwinement of staves, that then quickens and
thickens. The Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta finale returns
us to the zesty BRT PO Brussels/Alexander Rahbari team. Altogether a painless
74 minutes.
Simon Jenner
