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Bartok: The Wooden Prince & The Miraculous Mandarin Suite / Malkki, Helsinki Philharmonic
BIS

Bartok: The Wooden Prince & The Miraculous Mandarin Suite / Malkki, Helsinki Philharmonic

$21.99

Details

Composer
BARTOK, BELA
Artist
Malkki
Format
SACD
Label
BIS
Released
Jun 07, 2019
Catalog #
BIS-2328
UPC
7318599923284

About

The Wooden Prince and The Miraculous Mandarin are – together with the earlier opera Bluebeard’s Castle – the only stage works by Béla Bartók. They stand apart from the more abstract and often more explicitly folk-related character of the music that we primarily associate with the composer. They are nevertheless major achievements that in different ways highlight Bartók’s imaginative use of the modern orchestra. Set in an enchanted forest, The Wooden Prince is based on a fairytale-like libretto featuring a prince and princess. The two are subjected to various trials, but at the end of the ballet they are allowed to come together and live – we assume – happily ever after. In stark contrast, The Miraculous Mandarin takes place in an urban brothel where three robbers force a girl to seduce men so that they can overpower and kill them. The subject-matter and the erotic qualities of much of the music caused a scandal at the première in 1926, and for a long time the score was primarily performed in the shorter concert version heard on the present release, the first from the team of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Susanna Mälkki, the orchestra’s chief conductor since 2016.

-----

REVIEWS:

Mälkki elicits brilliant, rhythmically disciplined playing from the Helsinki Philharmonic; and although her depiction of urban din in the opening minutes lacks the raucous ferocity of Dorati’s justly famous mid-1950s account (and whose doesn’t?), her careful attention to dynamic gradations lays bare a wealth of textural and colouristic detail.

– Gramophone

Naturally, a complex score such as The Wooden Prince requires an orchestra capable of extreme virtuosity, and the Helsinki Philharmonic provide this to the full under their newly appointed principal conductor. She guides them in a performance of expressive sweep and, where required, tenderness. The SACD recording, as is so often the case with BIS, is state of the art.

Stylistically, The Miraculous Mandarin occupies a much harsher, at times grating sound world, there being no hint of the former's misty impressionism. In 1927, shortly after the sole Cologne performance, Bartók published an orchestral suite comprising the first six stages of the work, and that is what we have here. The orchestra respond here with considerable virtuosity under Susanna Mälkki’s direction, and the recording copes admirably with Bartok’s glaring, lurid orchestration of the dissonant music.

– MusicWeb International

Tracklist 19 tracks

  1. 1 Opening - 04:40
    Track
    1
    Title
    Opening -
    Duration
    04:40
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  2. 2 First Dance: Dance of the Princess in the forest - 02:20
    Track
    2
    Title
    First Dance: Dance of the Princess in the forest -
    Duration
    02:20
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  3. 3 The Prince falls in love - 02:09
    Track
    3
    Title
    The Prince falls in love -
    Duration
    02:09
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  4. 4 Towards the castle of the Princess - Second Dance: Dance of the trees - 04:52
    Track
    4
    Title
    Towards the castle of the Princess - Second Dance: Dance of the trees -
    Duration
    04:52
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  5. 5 The Prince continues on his way - Third Dance: Dance of the waves - 04:00
    Track
    5
    Title
    The Prince continues on his way - Third Dance: Dance of the waves -
    Duration
    04:00
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  6. 6 The Prince has an idea - 04:39
    Track
    6
    Title
    The Prince has an idea -
    Duration
    04:39
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  7. 7 The Princess is curious - Fourth Dance: Dance of the Princess with the Wooden Prince - 07:56
    Track
    7
    Title
    The Princess is curious - Fourth Dance: Dance of the Princess with the Wooden Prince -
    Duration
    07:56
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  8. 8 The Prince despairs - 05:51
    Track
    8
    Title
    The Prince despairs -
    Duration
    05:51
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  9. 9 The Prince is restored - 03:45
    Track
    9
    Title
    The Prince is restored -
    Duration
    03:45
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  10. 10 Return of the Princess - Fifth Dance: The Princess prods and encourages the Wooden Prince to dance - 03:03
    Track
    10
    Title
    Return of the Princess - Fifth Dance: The Princess prods and encourages the Wooden Prince to dance -
    Duration
    03:03
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  11. 11 Collapse of the Wooden Prince - Sixth Dance: With an alluring dance, the Princess tries to appeal to the Prince - 01:41
    Track
    11
    Title
    Collapse of the Wooden Prince - Sixth Dance: With an alluring dance, the Princess tries to appeal to the Prince -
    Duration
    01:41
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  12. 12 Seventh Dance: The despair of the Princess - 04:50
    Track
    12
    Title
    Seventh Dance: The despair of the Princess -
    Duration
    04:50
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  13. 13 The Happy End 04:02
    Track
    13
    Title
    The Happy End
    Duration
    04:02
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  14. 14 Introduction - The three tramps and the girl 02:38
    Track
    14
    Title
    Introduction - The three tramps and the girl
    Duration
    02:38
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  15. 15 First decoy game: the old rake 03:42
    Track
    15
    Title
    First decoy game: the old rake
    Duration
    03:42
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  16. 16 Second decoy game: the young boy 03:09
    Track
    16
    Title
    Second decoy game: the young boy
    Duration
    03:09
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  17. 17 Third decoy game: The Mandarin appears 02:26
    Track
    17
    Title
    Third decoy game: The Mandarin appears
    Duration
    02:26
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  18. 18 The girl begins to dance for the Mandarin 04:10
    Track
    18
    Title
    The girl begins to dance for the Mandarin
    Duration
    04:10
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki
  19. 19 The Mandarin chases the girl 02:21
    Track
    19
    Title
    The Mandarin chases the girl
    Duration
    02:21
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Ensemble
    Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Susanna Mälkki