BARTOK: Complete Edition

Budapest Symphony Orchestra/Antal Dorati, et al. 

If you thought you had all the Bartók worth having--the monumental string quartets, the spooky Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, the warhorse Concerto for Orchestra, perhaps even the three thrilling piano concertos-- consider this 29-disc set. It is the only available edition of his complete works. Hungaroton issued most of these pieces in a boxed LP set almost thirty years ago. Expect some tape hiss. However some pieces, like the 1903 Violin Sonata, were recorded as late as 1993. Treasures abound. Sample the songs Bartók wrote in 1915, based on the poems of his young student and lover, Klára Gombossy. Read the dry, awkwardly translated, and informative program notes. (There are enough of these to fill a small book.) Learn that the baroque practice of "parody," recycling parts of older pieces for new pieces, did not die out with Bach. Bartók used the second movement in his Violin Concerto No. 1 as the first of Two Portraits. Not only did he orchestrate several chamber works, like his two violin and piano rhapsodies, he rescored. This set includes his Rhapsody No.1 scored for cello and it is most tasty.

This collection features all Hungarian performers, but that is not its only unique aspect. It is also quite democratic. Unlike DGG's Complete Webern, which spotlighted Pierre Boulez, the Bartók Complete Edition includes about four dozen singers, musicians, orchestras, and choirs, giving no one the spotlight. You may not love them all, but they are the best Hungary has to offer. So if you don't care for Eszter Kovács singing Végit mentem a tárkányi, wait a few minutes. You will soon hear Terézia Csajbók singing Kis Kece lányom.

Where to begin? Space limitations don't permit the discussion of all the pieces in this set, but I will mention some. The Vocal Works sub-volume includes three discs of nothing but folk songs. Many date from Bartók early years traipsing the Hungarian countryside, but some were composed as late as 1935, like From Olden Times. These 27 a capella songs sung by a 2- and 3-part male choir are both melancholic and stirring. Erzébet Török sings the lovely There are waters at Debrecen. Four Songs from Mikrokosmos reveals more of Bartók the parodist, recycling melodies from his famed children's book of piano songs. Erika Sziklay's voice may not be spectacular but it is suited for these deceptively simple songs. The Vocal Orchestral Works sub-volume has an unsettling version of the Cantata profana fable, as well as several orchestrations of the works on Vocal Works.

There are two sub-volumes of chamber music. Play the modernist Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 and they will creep up on you, nuzzling for your attention like a cat. Thank Gidon Kremer and Iury Smirnov for their splendid timing and prickly performance. You may never have heard of Dénes Kovács, but his rendition of the Sonata for Solo Violin may render you speechless. Unlike those performers who treat it like an extended cadenza, he treats it like a symphony for one instrument.

On Orchestral Works II Dénes Kovács returns to play an antic Violin Concerto No. 2, without the showmanship of Yehudi Menuhin, but with deep enough expression. Geza Nemeth plays the Viola Concerto competently, but not as luminously as Kim Kashkashian (ECM 289 465 420-2). Only on a set like this can you listen to the Sonata for Two Pianos, Percussion, and Orchestra and decide whether it was necessary to orchestrate it into Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion, and Orchestra. (It was, but just barely.) As a bonus disc, the collection contains Rarities, First Recorded (mostly songs and piano works). Buy this set so that, when asked how many Bartók pieces you own, you can reply "everything."

--Peter Bates

 

AARON COPLAND - The Essence of America  

San Francisco Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Garrick Ohlsson, p.); Orchestral Variations; Short Symphony; Symphonic Ode; Billy the Kid; Appalachian Spring; Rodeo; MTT on Copland (talk) - RCA Red Seal set 09026-63720-2 (3 CDs):

Bringing together two previous MTT/SF Symphony single CDs - Copland the Modernist and Copland the Populist - this boxed set adds a third CD with individual commentaries by Tilson Thomas on most of the works. Earlier in his career MTT had studied and worked with Copland and thus has first-hand knowledge vital to interpreting the American master's important works. The booklets with the three CDs have a number of photos of Copland and MTT together to back up this fact visually.

The first four selections are from the Modernist album. Copland's Piano Concerto is an especially attractive performance and the other three more abstract works seem more appealing in MTT's dynamic hand than some of the competition, including those recordings conducted by the composer himself. The three ballet suites are from the Populist Copland CD and delivered in snappy performances with a great deal of verve. However, I still prefer the conductor's own versions of Billy and Rodeo on Everest. The commentary CD is extremely interesting listening whether you are a musical sophisticate or just getting your feet wet in the classics. MTT is a fine communicator with never falls into the terminal dryness of the commentaries that have been recorded by some conductors and composers. Best of all, something seems to have changed in the previously abysmal recording quality of recent Red Seal releases by the San Francisco Symphony. These recordings are fairly clean and transparent, unlike earlier efforts. They still suffer from excessive multi-miking so forget imaging, but sonically they are serviceable. Let us hope that BMG doesn't plan to add MTT and the SF Symphony to their long list of dropped artists' contracts in their economic belt tightening.

- John Sunier