BaL 26.04.25 - Bartok: Music for strings, percussion and celesta

[Pulcinella]

3.00pm
Building a Library: Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Kate Molleson talks to Andrew and recommends her personal choice to buy, download or stream
Alternating quietly intense movements with those of great verve and excitement, it is certainly one of the greatest orchestral works of the last century

Presto listing here:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/works/63006--bartok-music-for-strings-percussion-celesta-bb-114-sz-106/browse

This work has not yet featured on a BBC MM CD.

[smittims]

I first came to know this work on Fritz Reiner's famous RCA recording , probably because it was 99p! An enduring favourite, however, remains Neville Marriner's Argo recording with some interesting soloists, including composer Roger Smalley on piano.

I often think that this work, like Debussy's La Mer, is really a symphony in all but name. Indeed, it's official name is a bit cumbersome, as the (unmentiioned) piano is just as important .

Many may not know that there is a recording by Sir Adrian Boult. Sadly not one of his best (1950s Westminster) I thought .

[Sir Velo]

Images of a little boy furiously pedalling a tiny tricycle irresistibly come to mind...

[oliver sudden]

Indeed, it's official name is a bit cumbersome, as the (unmentiioned) piano is just as important .

Yes, and even if we class the piano among the percussion the harp is still unaccounted for, while the celesta, no less a percussion instrument than the piano, nonetheless gets special mention.

The trick is in the original German-language title, I have always assumed: “Musik für Saiteninstrumente, Schlagzeug und Celesta”. ‘Streicher’ is probably the more common word for strings and refers explicitly to the use of the bow, but ‘Saiteninstrument’ could refer to any instrument with strings, whether bowed, plucked, or hammered.

[rauschwerk]

As I understand it, the title was provisional only, but the composer had not thought of a better one before the first performance loomed.

[Petrushka]

I love this work but it's one that fits awkwardly into a live concert programme with its stage management issues and consequently I've only heard it live just once: LPO/Solti in 1988.

As for recordings you can't go far wrong with either Chicago SO/Reiner or LSO/Solti, both classics for a reason. No doubt they will be totally ignored.

[Pulcinella]

This was the NUJMB A-level set work in 1969 (when I was a third-year sixth student; it was Brahms S2 for the 1968 exam), and part of me wished it had been my set work instead of the Brahms, so I studied it 'on the side'. Confession: my copy of the score has the school stamp in it, but I think I was allowed to keep it.

Like smittins, the ASMF/Marriner recording became a favourite, but I find I have quite a few others on the shelf, making nine in total.

OSR/Ansermet
NYPO/Bernstein
BBCSO/Boulez
CSO/Boulez
Detroit SO/Dorati
Melbourne SO/Gardner
SWR SO/Gielen
ASMF/Marriner
CSO/Solti

Could (and should) be an interesting BaL.

[Pulcinella]

I know that it's a pp start, but I don't think I've ever heard the first note in the Boulez BBCSO (Sony) recording (could be my ears), and I wonder if somehow it got clipped/missed.
Anyone else able to hear it?

[richardfinegold]

I first came to know this work on Fritz Reiner's famous RCA recording , probably because it was 99p! An enduring favourite, however, remains Neville Marriner's Argo recording with some interesting soloists, including composer Roger Smalley on piano.

I often think that this work, like Debussy's La Mer, is really a symphony in all but name. Indeed, it's official name is a bit cumbersome, as the (unmentiioned) piano is just as important .

Many may not know that there is a recording by Sir Adrian Boult. Sadly not one of his best (1950s Westminster) I thought .

This was a seminal moment for me. I heard the first movement on a WFMT radio show that featured new releases and was greatly moved. I believe it was Dorati with (?) Amsterdam but I wound up purchasing Reiner because it was the budget option and that’s still the one I go to. I have Dorati on Mercury and with the Detroit SO but neither can match Reiner for intensity. That might be the sum of MFSPC on my shelves because I just don’t need another.

[Petrushka]

I didn't realise how many recordings I have of this until I carried out an audit!

Concertgebouw/van Beinum (1955)
Philharmonia/Karajan (1949)
LPO/Solti (1955)
Chicago SO/Reiner
LSO/Solti
BBC SO/Dorati
Chicago SO/Solti
BPO/Karajan (1960)
BPO/Karajan (1969)
BPO/Karajan (live 1969)
BBC SO/Boulez
Chicago SO/Boulez
NYPO/Bernstein
Concertgebouw/Haitink

[HighlandDougie]

I know that it's a pp start, but I don't think I've ever heard the first note in the Boulez BBCSO (Sony) recording (could be my ears), and I wonder if somehow it got clipped/missed.
Anyone else able to hear it?

It is clearly audible in the CD version of the 1967 BBC SO recording which is in the 'The Complete Columbia Album Collection'.

[Pulcinella]

It is clearly audible in the CD version of the 1967 BBC SO recording which is in the 'The Complete Columbia Album Collection'.

Must get my ears syringed then, or maybe try listening through headphones.

[Darloboy]

Previous BaL recommendations:

Stephen Walsh (Nov 78): LSO/Solti
Peter Paul Nash (Apr 01): Salzburg Camerata Academica/Végh
Rob Cowan (Jan 15): Budapest FO/Fischer + Kocsis "also highly recommended"

[Sir Velo]

I think you have to go with the Magyar contingent: Reiner; Kocsis; Fischer (not necessarily in that order) to get what Rob Cowan would no doubt call, that bit of paprika so essential in this music.

[oliver sudden]

I think you have to go with the Magyar contingent: Reiner; Kocsis; Fischer (not necessarily in that order) to get what Rob Cowan would no doubt call, that bit of paprika so essential in this music.

Strangely enough I also reach first for Hungarians when I feel like listening to this piece, but two you haven’t mentioned! Doráti and Fricsay. I don’t really have much of an overview of the discography though.

(Paprika is an interesting phenomenon. I didn’t realise quite _how_ interesting until I had a Serbian partner. At least in Serbia it covers everything from lusciously sweet capsicum to fiery chilli’s-in-all-but-name. Since it was the Austro-Hungarians who ruled the roost there for a while, I don’t imagine it would be a very different story in Hungary, but should I be mistaken I would obviously be only too pleased to be relieved of my ignorance.)