Béla Bartók: The Wooden Prince / Cantata Profana - John Aler / John Tomlinson / Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Pierre Boulez

Béla Bartók (Composer), Pierre Boulez (Conductor), Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), John Aler (Performer), John Tomlinson (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: John Aler, John Tomlinson
• Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Pierre Boulez
• Composer: Béla Bartók
• Audio CD (November 10, 1992)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001GGY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,368 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Pierre Boulez has recorded all of this music before, and very successfully. Those recordings are available at mid-price on Sony, and though the recorded sound is a bit better on these newer discs, you can't really go wrong either way. Boulez has always brought a special measure of incisiveness and clarity to Bartók, sometimes at the cost of a certain emotional warmth--but that's not a criticism that applies to this pair of immaculately played performances. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra knows this music as well as any orchestra in the world, and its chorus is one of the country's finest. So if the coupling appeals to you, go for it! --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the better recordings Bartók & Boulez., November 16, 2005

By 

Paco Yáńez (Santiago de Compostela) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Béla Bartók: The Wooden Prince / Cantata Profana - John Aler / John Tomlinson / Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Pierre Boulez (Audio CD)

This is, with no doubt, one of the better recordings Boulez has done of Bartók's music, as far as I know. I have all his new Bartók recordings for DG, in which we can find jewels like the Piano Concertos or the Four Pieces. I know too his old recording of the Wooden Prince for CBS and this is even much more better, and the old one was really great too.

Boulez conducting is clear in all the pieces, specially in the Wooden Prince and the orchestral playing is really breathtaking, something outstanding, ideal for Bartók's music, in which they have a long-term relation, as you can listen in his previous recordings with Reiner, Abbado or Solti.

The Cantata Profana is marvellous too, singers, chorus and orchestra give them best to build a marvellous tale, full of colour and mistery, as the Cantata is a hermetic piece in fact. I've listened this work in Solti's hands and of course it could be a bit more idiomatic and folk, more hungarian, but even so, Boulez's version is marvellous, specially from the technical point of view.

The recording is amazing, I think this CD was Grammy for the technical recording, there's no doubt about the recording quality, it's clear, well-balanced, great range of dynamics, very well recorded all the orchestral sections...

In my opinion a CD which is a must be for all Bartók's lovers. Nowadays this CD it's out of DG's catalogue, so don't miss this oportunity.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent, stimulating album., December 23, 1998

By 

Nicholas Fox - See all my reviews

This review is from: Béla Bartók: The Wooden Prince / Cantata Profana - John Aler / John Tomlinson / Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Pierre Boulez (Audio CD)

Yeh, yeh, Boulez is unemotional and cold. Yeh, right. Anyone who listens to these stunning, uplifting, enlightening recordings and continues to repeat all the labels that are heaped on poor Pierre needs to use their ears and minds a little bit more. One of the most immaculate, moving, near-perfect Bartok recordings ever made. If this is cold and unemotional, emotional might be too much for me.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This disk has really moved me., December 23, 1998

By 

Jacob Greenberg (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Béla Bartók: The Wooden Prince / Cantata Profana - John Aler / John Tomlinson / Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Pierre Boulez (Audio CD)

Boulez's new version of Bartok's Wooden Prince and Cantata Profana for DG is unique for the emotional directness of the performances. Though this comment applies more to the ballet than the more angular cantata, I have been really moved by Boulez's interpretation and the CSO's playing. With The Wooden Prince, Boulez seems like a great musical storyteller, an attribute not normally applied to him; the plot of the wonderful ballet emerges with an incredible directness and remarkable drama. The moments which most touch me are in the fourth dance, when the Prince is in total despair, and at the end of the piece, when the Princess begs for forgiveness with new humility. For once, this music packs the same emotional punch as the composer's opera Bluebeard's Castle (originally intended as a companion piece to the ballet). I love this disk and would recommend it to anyone.