Béla Bartók, Boston Symphony Orchestra ∙ Rafael Kubelik, Seiji Ozawa - Concerto For Orchestra; Music For Strings, Percussion & Celesta album flac

Rafael Kubelik conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the Concerto for Orchestra, which Bartók designed as a virtuoso showcase for that ensemble, while Seiji Ozawa led the same orchestra in the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, which Bartók originally composed for the Basel Chamber Orchestra. These performances were recorded by Deutsche Grammophon in 1973 and 1979 respectively, and while Quadraphonic recordings and sound systems enjoyed their heyday in that decade, audiophile technology lagged in the early digital age until the advent of the multichannel hybrid SACD in the 1990s.

Conductor – Rafael Kubelik (tracks: 1 to 5), Seiji Ozawa (tracks: 6 to 9). Consultant – Veronica Neo. Design – Joost De Boo. Engineer – Heinz Wildhagen, Klaus Hiemann. Executive-Producer – Klaus Behrens, Wolf-Dieter Karwatky. Executive-Producer, Producer – Rainer Brock. Liner Notes – Jörg Peter Urbach.

In the Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta, Ozawa's flair for detail, well-defined articulation and a full-bodied, brightly-lit and colorful orchestral palette fares slightly better. However, there is an even more pronounced cavernous acoustic than in the Concerto, which manages to blunt some of Ozawa's extrovert energy. The present Bartok disc from Pentatone (1973 and 1976 DG recordings) is just such an album, sounding a lot better than it might have from a scratchy LP over forty years ago. The first thing on the program is the Concerto for Orchestra by Hungarian composer and pianist Bela Bartok (1881-1945), performed in a 1973 DG recording by the Czech conductor and composer Rafael Kubelik and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. We hear it all in Music for Strings, this time in a 1976 recording with Seiji Ozawa leading the Boston Symphony.

Boston Symphony Orchestra. The Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116, BB 123, is a five-movement orchestral work composed by Béla Bartók in 1943 The score is inscribed "15 August – 8 October 1943". It was premiered on December 1, 1944, in Symphony Hall, Boston, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky  . In 1959, His Master's Voice released a recording with Rafael Kubelik conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, also including Bartók's Two Portraits, Op. 5. 12-inch LP recording. HMV ASD 312 (stereo). Retrieved May 20, 2015.

Concerto for Orchestra: I. Introduzione. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta: I. Andante tranquillo. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta: IV. Allegro molto. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta: III. Adagio. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta: II. Allegro.

1 2 3 4 5. Artist songs. Theme From Schindler's List (Reprise). John Towner Williams, Itzhak Perlman, Boston Symphony Orchestra. Violin Concerto "Anne-Sophie" - 1. Moderato. Anne-Sophie Mutter, Boston Symphony Orchestra, André Previn. John Towner Williams, Boston Symphony Orchestra. Theme From Schindler's List.

Yet these live recordings from Kubelik's later years with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1978 and 1981) stand out from the rest of the pack: it's clearly an affair of the heart, an extremely intense performance that captures all the sardonic, melancholy, and painful nuances that characterize this music.

CD 1. Béla Bartók Composer. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, BB114, S. 06 Work. Rafael Kubelik Conductor, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Orchestra. 1. ndante tranquillo. Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Montréal Symphony Orchestra. Mozart: Symphonies N. 0 and 41. Rafael Kubelik.

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