Bright Moments Posted June 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 The two discs considered must-have classics by smartypantses like me are: -- The Concerto for Orchestra and Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony on RCA -- and the three piano concertos by Geza Anda and Ferenc Fricsay on DG. Both should be pretty easy to get. The former was just reissued on SACD hybrid. From there, you'll need to expand into the string quartets. I recommend the Keller Quartet set on Erato above all, even the oft-recommended Emerson Quartet on DG. Also grab the disc of violin and piano sonatas on Naxos. Some of Bartok's least user-friendly music, but you can handle it. ← i just got to spin the three piano concertos by Geza Anda and Ferenc Fricsay on DG. i am BLOWN AWAY!!!!!!!! thanks!!!!! ← i've now listened to this cd 4 times in the last 2 days. i am STILL BLOWN AWAY!!!! i'm a little worried that the other bartok cds won't measure up. this one is THAT good!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 (edited) Bought the 8 CD Bartok Piano Music box by Zoltan Kocsis yesterday - the price was € 49,99 at a local Saturn branch - cheaper than Amazon. Good booklet and the discs in simple paper sleeves. Remastering is excellent - very good bargain and the perfect entrance into the Bartok piano world. Ordered the string quartets by the Hungarian Quartet, a double disc at mid-price available from Universal - thanks for the recommendation! The latter is avaialable new for $ 12,94 from Amazon/Caiman. Edited June 21, 2005 by mikeweil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j lee Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 No one has mentioned the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion yet, so I will. I can't recall the performance that I really listened to when I read through the work as a kid, but there's an OK version by Vladimir and Vovka Ashkenazy (and a percussionist whose name I cannot recall) that should be easy to find. Pretty jazzy stuff, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted June 22, 2005 Report Share Posted June 22, 2005 The recording by Jean-Francois Heisser & Georges Pludermacher on Erato is excellent. It is available as low price in the Warner Apex series. Very interesting work, composed on request of Paul Sacher in Basle, like the Music for String Instruments, Percussion and Celesta a few years before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted June 22, 2005 Report Share Posted June 22, 2005 No one has mentioned the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion yet, so I will. Pretty jazzy stuff, really. ← It is included in the Sandor VoxBox of the concerted stuff I recommended. There is a very fine disc by Kocsis and Ranki worth investigating too. Mike's mention of the Hungarian Quartet on DG reminds me they were my intro to the quartets in 1962. I must get the reissue - didn't know it was available. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted July 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2005 i "found" bartok's sonata (1926) Sz 80 on Martha Argerich's Live from the Concertgebouw 1978 & 1979. EXCELLENT!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted January 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 ok folks - i am ready to try bartok's opera "bluebeard's castle" is the LSO Berry/Ludwig the one to get? recommendations please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 (edited) Yes, it is considered to be the reference recording. The sound is very good too. (the back of the booklet has the original LP cover) Edited January 11, 2006 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 Two posts about "Bluebeard's" that I made a few years ago on Rec Music Classical Recordings: FWIW, the volume of "Opera on Record" in which there was a detailed survey of "Bluebeard's Castle" performances came down firmly on the side of the second Janos Ferencsik with Katalin Kasza and Gyorgy Melis (c. 1970, Hungaroton). I have it on LP and see it's available on CD. Tatiania Troyanos (with Boulez) must be heard, but Kasza is excellent, too, and singing in her native language, and again, whoever did that "Opera on Record" survey found Ferencsik's grasp of the score to be superior to that of all other interpreters. (Subjectively, he strikes me as a good deal more intense than Boulez.) More on the "Bluebeard's Castle" survey from "Opera on Record 3." The author of the chapter, David Murray, says that Ferencsik II's Gyorgy Melies, "makes an uncommonly youthful Bluebeard, [but] he has the advantage that the role lies perfectly for his voice," while Katalin Kasza "is Judith to the life, nervily eager, selflessly intense. She is as precise with her music as any Judith (more than most) and commands an astringent lower register, without any throaty bark or adipose richness. By comparison, Christa Ludwig's Judith sounds almost maternal, too sympathetic and cuddlesome: how could she prosecute such a dangerous enterprise? The immediate pathos of the Kertesz reduces the objective dimension; Solti and Boulez, in their different ways, are hieratic at the expense of dramatic urgency and contrast. Theirs are distinguished performances, but Ferencsik strikes a true balance." Also, Murray comes up with this line: "[While] the opera does not lend itself to excerpts, someone did exclaim excitedly after a Boulez concert performance, 'They ought to release the Fifth Door as a single!' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted January 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.L.M Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 In a non-idiomatic way, I like the version from BERNARD HAITINK on EMI. The sound is of superior quality and the singers, ANNE SOFIE VON OTTER & JOHN TOMLINSON, are, of course, first rate. As I said, non-idiomatic (even if the narrator, SANDOR ELES, is Hungarian) but beautifully sing and well play by the BERLINER PHILARMONIKER. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epithet Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Anyone have recommendations for The Wooden Prince? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Anyone have recommendations for The Wooden Prince? Fischer on Philips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Anyone have recommendations for The Wooden Prince? Fischer on Philips. I second that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Always nice to see this thread resurface. A reminder that I need to get going on checking out the recommendations here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted May 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2006 Anyone have recommendations for The Wooden Prince? i enjoyed this one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epithet Posted May 5, 2006 Report Share Posted May 5, 2006 (edited) Anyone have recommendations for The Wooden Prince? i enjoyed this one! I still haven't bought anything yet. I was leaning towards the Fischer and the Boulezes but then I saw that there's a cheap Bartók Dorati boxed set including it. Anyone know what the box is like? (I have the Menuhin violin concerto from it already—it's good.) Edited May 5, 2006 by Epithet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted May 5, 2006 Report Share Posted May 5, 2006 AND for my alltime favorite violin concerto another VoxBox of concerto performance by Ivry Gitlis. This early '50s recording of the Bartok is a desert island performance for me. I rarely order from Amazon but a couple of months ago I had a gift certificate and needed another 65 cents on the order to get the free shipping. So I remembered this Ivry Gitlis rec and added it to the order. I've forgotten now what the "meat" of the order was as this throw in so outshined them. And it's not just the Bartok, the Mendelssohn, Sibelius and the rest is strong stuff. At roughly $12 it's like when you buy an inexpensive wine and it tastes like $30 (not that I drink the latter much. ) Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted December 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 when you get a chance jim, please move this thread over to the new classical section!! thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted December 11, 2007 Report Share Posted December 11, 2007 Back to the Wooden Prince question. I recommend the recording by Ivan Fischer on Philips. Have the Boulez recording - too "cold" for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal Posted December 21, 2007 Report Share Posted December 21, 2007 Bought the 8 CD Bartok Piano Music box by Zoltan Kocsis yesterday - the price was € 49,99 at a local Saturn branch - cheaper than Amazon. Good booklet and the discs in simple paper sleeves. Remastering is excellent - very good bargain and the perfect entrance into the Bartok piano world. Dear thanks to all of you who spoke highly of the Kocsis set on Phillips. I picked up this set as a christmas present to myself, and its all I've been listening to for the past two weeks. Marvelous stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jams_Runt Posted February 22, 2008 Report Share Posted February 22, 2008 Hello, I posted something about this on the emusic thread, and Magnificent Goldberg said I might have better luck here. I'm on an extremely tight budget right now, so I'm only buying cds of my absolute favorites, and am using my emusic account to download any music I might be unfamiliar with. I wanted to check out Bartok after going on a serious Herbie Nichols kick, and picked up Gyorgy Sandor's version of the complete solo piano works. I love it, and would love to check out some more Bartok. Do any of you know if any of the emusic stuff (mainly Naxos etc...) is worth checking out, or should I save my penny's and my downloads, and check out the highly recommended Bartok stuff on this thread, when money allows? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted February 22, 2008 Report Share Posted February 22, 2008 Several Naxos Bartok CDs are excellent, and I assume/hope these performances are on emusic: Jena Jando's piano music (but you're already covered there with Sandor), Jando/Andras Ligeti's Piano Concertos, Gregory Pauk/Anton Wit's Violin Concertos, and a Pauk-Jando chamber music disc that includes Contrasts. Can't comment on the Naxos Bartok String Quartet performances by which quartet I don't recall, haven't heard them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jams_Runt Posted February 22, 2008 Report Share Posted February 22, 2008 Thanks a lot. I'll definitely check out the piano concertos when my dowloads resume come next Wednesday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bluenote82 Posted February 22, 2008 Report Share Posted February 22, 2008 You can't go wrong with any of these (some of which may have been mentioned already): 1. Bartók: Concertos - BBC Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, London Symphony Orchestra (fantastic 2-disc collection) 2. Béla Bartók: The Wooden Prince / Cantata Profana - John Aler / John Tomlinson / Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Pierre Boulez 3. Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra / 4 Orchestral Pieces - Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez 4. Bartok: The Piano Concertos - Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra 5. Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta; Hungarian Sketches - Chicago Symphony Orchestra 6. Bartók: Rhapsodies Nos. 1 & 2; Piano Quintet 7. Bartók: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-3 - Budapest Symphony Orchestra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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