[TR24][OF] Béla Bartók (Bela Bartok) - Concerto For Orchestra; Music For Strings, Percussion & Celesta (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop) - 2015 (Classical)

Béla Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, one of his greatest works, was written in the United States after the composer was forced to flee Hungary during World War II. It is not only a brilliant display vehicle for each instrumental section but a work of considerable structural ingenuity that unites classical forms and sonorities with the pungency of folk rhythms and harmonies. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta explores darker moods through a score of marvellously poised symmetry.
This release follows Marin Alsop’s ‘riveting’ (Gramophone) Baltimore Symphony recordings of Dvorak’s symphonies.
This has long been a popular coupling of works by Béla Dvorak, but this new release rides on the crest of a wave of previous successes and will occupy a leading position amongst the competition on the quality of its recording and performance. Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra have a synergy which has made their Dvorak symphonic recordings sound ‘as fresh as when Dvorak put pen to paper’ (BBC Music Magazine on the Symphonies 7 and 8, NBD0010). Of Dvorak’s New World Symphony (8570714) BBC Music Magazine also wrote, ‘it is rare to be able to say that a performance forces one to listen to a work anew, but this is exactly what Alsop’s reading achieves.’
“If you're unfamiliar with these seminal mid-20th century works, here's an unmissable chance of getting to know it.” (BBC Music Magazine)
“Warmth and vitality are appropriate keywords for this coupling, a practical Bartok primer you might say, well played, persuasively interpreted and nicely recorded...In the Concerto for Orchestra's first movement Marin Alsop and her players generate plenty of energy...a fine bargain and a credible starting point for those wanting to dip a toe into Bartokian waters.” (Gramophone Magazine)
“Her orchestra's precision here is enviable, with crisp ensemble playing and solo voices of considerable character. The sound is not particularly full-bodied but neither is it bloated - rather, it is to some extent reminiscent of the finest American orchestras of past decades in privileging nuance above raw power.” (International Record Review)
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
Recorded at Meyerhoff Hall, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, from 2nd-4th October, 2009 (tracks 1-5),
and on 3rd, 4th and 6th June, 2010 (tracks 6-9)
Engineered and edited by Richard King
Produced by Steven Epstein
Digitally remastered