Composer: Béla Bartók
Performer: James Ehnes
Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Edward Gardner
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Release: 2017
Size: 1.29 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Concerto for Orchestra, BB 123, Sz.116
01. I. Introduzione. Andante non troppo – Allegro vivace
02. II. Giuoco delle coppie. Allegretto scherzando
03. III. Elegia. Andante non troppo
04. IV. Intermezzo interrotto. Allegretto
05. V. Finale. Presto
Rhapsody for Violin & Orchestra No. 1, BB 94b, Sz. 87
06. I. Lassú. Moderato
07. II. Friss. Allegro moderato (First Version)
08. II. Friss. Allegro moderato (Second Version)
Rhapsody for Violin & Orchestra No. 2, BB 96b, Sz. 90
09. I. Lassú. Moderato
10. II. Friss. Allegro moderato
Dance Suite, BB 86, Sz. 77
11. I. Moderato
12. II. Allegro molto
13. III. Allegro vivace
14. IV. Molto tranquillo
15. V. Commodo
16. VI. Finale. Allegro
Recorded: 2016, 2017
Recording Venue: Grieghallen, Bergen, Norway
Four years after a highly successful Bartok recording with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner here returns to the composer on SACD, with James Ehnes as solo violinist, and his Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. The central piece in this recording is the Concerto for Orchestra, the largest work that Bartok completed during the last five years of his life and described by the composer, in the program notes for its 1944 premiere, as ‘a gradual transition from the sternness of the first movement and the lugubrious death-song of the third, to the life-assertion of the last one.’ It is joined by the Dance Suite, the immediate predecessor, among Bartok’s few works for full orchestra without a soloist, of the Concerto for Orchestra, though by more than two decades; and by the violin Rhapsodies, the colorful folk influences of which are revealed by James Ehnes, a specialist in the repertoire, who already has recorded the complete sonatas as well as the concertos for violin and for viola to critical acclaim.