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Bartok!!!


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Some of my favorite Bartóks are:

Concerto for Orchestra

RIAS-Symphony Orchestra Berlin / Ferenc Fricsay - DG 447443

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Fritz Reiner - JVC JMCXR-0007 (20-bit K2 remastered XRCD; RCA recording)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez - DG 437826

Budapest Festival Orchestra / Iván Fischer - Philips 456575

Concertgebouw Orchestra / Riccardo Chailly - Decca 458841

Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

RIAS-Symphony Orchestra Berlin / Ferenc Fricsay - DG 74432

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Fritz Reiner - JVC JMCXR-0012 (20-bit K2 remastered XRCD; RCA recording)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez - DG 447747

The Miraculous Mandarin

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez - DG 447747

Concertgebouw Orchestra / Riccardo Chailly - Decca 458841

Budapest Festival Orchestra / Iván Fischer - Philips 454430

Concerti for Piano and Orchestra Nos.1-3

Géza Anda / RIAS-Symphony Orchestra Berling / Ferenc Fricsay - DG 447399

András Schiff / Budapest Festival Orchestra / Iván Fischer - Teldec 13158

String Quartets Nos.1-6

Tokyo String Quartet - DG 445241

Takács Quartet - Decca 455297

Hagen Quartett - DG 463576

Keller Quartet - Erato 98538

Sonata for Violin / Sonata for Violin and Piano No.1

Isabelle Faust, Ewa Kupiec - Harmonia Mundi 911623

Sonata for Violin and Piano No.2 / Rhapsodies for Violin and Piano Nos.1-2 / etc.

Isabelle Faust, Florent Boffard - Harmonia Mundi 911702

Works for Piano

Zoltán Kocsis - Philips 464676, 434104, 442016 (I believe there are more volumes)

plus several other orchestral pieces (too many to post here)

Edited by J.A.W.
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I'm a Bartok fan too. Love that angular, wrong-footed sound and those 'insect-music' pieces. My favourites are the Concerto for Orchestra, 2nd and 3rd Piano Concertos and the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.

I love Janacek for similar reasons. Anyone unfamiliar should make a beeline for the 'Glagolitic Mass', one of my all time favourite pieces.

The period from the late 19th C to the mid-20th is by far my favourite in classical music.

[Try out Richie Beirach's 'Round About Bartok' with George Mraz and Gregor Hubner for a jazzy take on Bartok's world. Not remotely Jacques Loussier!)

Edited by Bev Stapleton
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I saw a performance ogf the Glagolitic in 1976 at a Prom (Adrian Boult with Beethoven 5 in part 1, Andrew Davis (I think) with the Glagolitic in part 2). I was bowled over! I'd only been listening to classical music for a while (thank you ELP, the Nice, Yes etc!!!!) and hadn't got much further than the Stravinsky ballets. This was another world.

I'm not a huge opera fan (I still find I have to suspend my disbelief with classical singing) but in my desparation to hear more Janacek I grew to love his operas, especially 'The Cunning Little Vixen' which is magical.

Have a look here for the Beirach details:

http://www.actmusic.com/mraz-beirach-huebner.htm

The Monteverdi disc is great too. I've yet to hear the Mompou.

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Before this Bartok thread becomes a Janacek thread, let me add some recommendations.

The Kocsis series is now up to 8 volumes, not counting the Concerti (which are my favorite versions). All of the Ivan Fischer orchestral discs are worthwhile. For the string quartets I prefer the Keller Quartet (cheap) or their teachers, the Vegh Quartet. Naxos has a number of good bargains including the Violin Sonatas, Concerti, Rhapsodies, Contrasts with Gyorgy Pauk and the piano concerti by Jando/Ligeti. The 2nd Violin concerto is one of my favorite pieces - my favorite by far is a recording from the early '50s by Ivry Gitlis with Horenstein conducting. This is available cheaply on a Vox double, as is a very worthwhile set of the "concerted" piano works with Gyorgy Sandor.

Not currently in print, but if you can find the Ferenc Fricsay recording of the Divertimento (on a deleted DG disc), you will never take this piece for granted.

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