Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73 (suite)

Another orchestral tour de force from Sascha Goetzel and this outstanding orchestra: after their acclaimed debut recording for ONYX of Respighi, Florent Schmitt and Hindemith, the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and their charismatic Viennese music director have devised a fascinating programme of ballet music composed during the turbulent inter-war years of the 20th century.

The music reflects the edgy, dangerous and turbulent political and social landscape of the period. This is music of great rhythmic vitality: Ravel’s refracted memories of a vanished Habsburg Vienna destroyed by the 1914–18 War, to the primitive barbarism of Prokofiev’s 'Scythian Suite' and the lurid violence of Bartok’s 'Miraculous Mandarin' with its themes of lust, criminality, prostitution and murder.

Schulhoff’s ballet 'Ogelala' like Prokofiev’s score concerns pagan rituals and warring tribes, and a young couple who are meant to kill each other, but end up falling in love.

Holst’s comic opera, 'The Perfect Fool', written in 1918–22, begins with a ballet which is danced by Spirits of Earth, Water and Fire. The score is brilliant – and though less concerned with human drama than the other works on this disc, the drive, energy and sheer brilliance of Holst’s score is very much of its time.

The Prince of the Pagodas and The Miraculous Mandarin: both titles suggest Oriental fairy tales, but while Britten set a fantastic scenario for choreographer John Cranko, Bartók controversially evoked and expressionist urban nightmare. In his variation-based score, Britten salutes Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and the Javanese gamelan. Bartók, with atonality, complex textures and rhythms, and daring orchestration, illustrates vice and violence as a Chinese mandarin miraculously survives repeated murder attempts, only dying when his lust is assuaged.

For too long absent from the catalogue, Dohnanyi's pair of recordings coupling Stravinsky and Bartok present him and the Vienna Philharmonic at their scintillating, dramatic best. Here is one of the most exciting accounts of Petrushka ever to be committed to disc and the sordid tale of The Miraculous Mandarin is sharply etched in this vigorous performance.

Rudolf Kempe (1910-1976) was one of the leading conductors of his generation. However, recordings of him performing Bartok are quite scarce, something Haenssler is keen to redress with this release.

The Junge Deutsche Philharmonie has released a CD of 20th century works very much concerned with seduction and dance. The most talented young musicians in Germany join together to form this outstanding orchestra and work with renowned conductors. Their aim is to achieve musical goals with passion.

Béla Bartók’s pantomime The Miraculous Mandarin was banned after its first performance in 1926, but the composer’s orchestral suite quickly became a popular concert work, appreciated for its energetic rhythms and daring harmonies.

Though facetiously dubbed ‘Beethoven’s Tenth’, Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 is also, in its own way, a no less revolutionary work which charts a journey from darkness to light from its brooding introduction to its euphoric finale.

This splendid 2008 recording joins other fine LSO albums available from Naxos. It is the debut recording for American conductor Jonathan Pasternack.

The Saint-Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States. 15 years in the making, these recordings were made in Powell Symphony Hall in 1992 and 1993. Lost in time, the master tapes were located by AAM Recordings and we are now honoured to present these remarkable performances for the first time. Features Leonard Slatkin, the dynamic American conductor who is now the musical director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.