September 29, 2014

  • Some Romantic Bartok...

     

    Bartok: Kossuth; Two Portraits; Suite
    Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta
    Naxos 8.573307
    Total Time:  69:42
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    One of the great aspects of Naxos’ recording plans is that they find pairings of good regional orchestras and begin exploring repertoire of all sorts based often on the ensembles music director interests.  In JoAnn Falletta, the label has certainly managed to begin improving on some of the performances recorded in Eastern Europe back in the 1990s.  Under Falletta’s leadership, the Buffalo Philharmonic has managed to gain an impressive foothold on disc with a host of familiar and less familiar repertoire across.  The music of Bela Bartok is one of the great individual voices of the 20th Century.  His final works from the latter 1930s and 1940s have cemented themselves into the standard repertoire of many orchestras.  There was a time when tracking down his earlier orchestral music was a bit more difficult.  His intriguing symphonic poem, Kossuth, was among the rarer finds with a fabulous performance available on the old Sefel label years ago.  Ivan Fischer’s 1998 Philips release is worth tracking down with its equally fine pairing of the Concerto for Orchestra.

    The present release pulls together three relatively rarer early works of Bartok’s from the first decade of the 20th Century.  What makes Kossuth intriguing is that it is Bartok’s first real foray into orchestral writing in 1903 at the age of 22.  The piece shows its roots in German Romanticism and certainly has the recent tone poems of Richard Strauss firmly in tow.  The work is based on the life of the great Hungarian freedom fighter, Lajos Kossuth, who fought for independence from the Austrian empire in 1848.  The ten sections begin with a thematic layout of Kossuth’s theme representing his character.  The exciting central battle section is perhaps among the more impressive moments of this score.  Also worth noting are some of the Eastern harmonic ideas and folk-like motives that already are showing some fascination for the composer—though still being treated with a 19th-Century ear.  The string writing is certainly reminiscent of Strauss in this work.  It would have been nice though to have these movements separated track wise, though seamless, so one could better study the work.

    At the center of the release are the Two Portraits, Op. 5, Sz. 37.  The piece for violin and orchestra came after a violin concerto that was written for a young violinist Bartok was in love with, only to be rejected and lose his score as well (it resurfaced in 1959 when she died).  And so, in 1909 he returned to a work for solo and orchestra perhaps addressing this heartbreak apparent in the subtitles for the movements:  “Ideal” and “Grotesque”.  The first is actually a reuse of the opening movement of the violin concerto.  The second is borrowed from his “Bagatelle No. 13”.  The result is a set of movements with a sort of idée fixe technique.  Thus it provides a bit of a connection actually to the early symphonic poem.  The first movement’s solo line is certainly a sensually lyrical one with great impassioned ideas though seemingly “frustrated” as the music progresses.  The second movement is actually the more interesting of the two with its interesting rhythmic energy and more angular writing.

    The final piece on the disc is the Suite No. 1, Op. 3, Sz. 60.  The five-movement work explores a variety of Hungarian folk song material, but is most notable for Bartok’s intriguing orchestral choices.  The work was composed in 1905 and later revised in 1920.  The tie in here is the use of the Austrian national hymn as one of the source melodies used in the work.  The overall sound of this work is quite striking to that of the previous one as we are truly back in that late German Romantic approach albeit with a few personal touches.  The result is a work that sounds more like a 1930s film score where one would be hard pressed to know it was by Bartok.  That does not diminish the music’s charm and engaging material.

    Falletta’s performance of the Kossuth is fairly spot on with Bartok interpreters.  The strings feel like they could use a few more stands, but that is more due to the music rather than the orchestra.  Intonation in high passages is excellent and the big climaxes are well balanced.  The resulting program here is really a great traversal of these early pieces with excellent performances that honor the period and style of the music without trying to force the later Bartok into them as sometimes can happen.