6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Recordings Available Now, June 8, 2000
This review is from: Bartók: Piano Concertos No. 2 & No. 3 / Concerto for Two Pianos & Percussion / Violin Concerto No. 2 / Rhapsodies No. 1 & No. 2 (The Royal Edition No. 2 of 100) (Audio CD)
Originally this recordings were released in separated LP's, but now they are available in this two records set. This compilation is a true right guess for Sony. Concert for Two Pianos and Percussion is a orchestral arragement for Bartok himself of his famous Sonata. Bernstein and soloists stand out each colour and pitch of this concert, though the orchestral part is discreet in this opus. Director obtains to make bright drums, cymbals and xylophone parts. Second Piano Concert(with Philippe Etremont) is a interesting work that merges neoclasicist aproach with folk elements. Soloist piano is accompanied only for horns in the first movement. Strings appears in the slow movement and sustain an interesting fight with the percussion. The full orchestra blows up only at the final part. Bartok's Third Concert is his most easy listening work. Impressionistic piano music with ravelian influence, but the folk fundamental is alive even. The Second Violin Concert was the bartokian answer to the Schoenberg School. This a vibrant and superb concert that require a skilfull violinist. Bernstein-Stern version is legendary and own feeling and ease and can be compared to other current recordings (Mutter, Pasquier or Shaham). This one worth for performance of slow movements.I think Bernstein found himself at one's ease in the adagios and lentos, his true feeling ran really here. To hear this slow movements is an impresive and moving experience. He always searched to stand out more sounds and effects of the orchestra than run with the timepiece. Music showed his true hertbeat. Bernstein, New York Philarmonic and his guests gain to hande the hard rythms and pulsations of this main works. Ten stars fot this CD!
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Do Not Hesitate -- BUY THIS WHILE YOU CAN!!!, January 7, 2010
This review is from: Bartók: Piano Concertos No. 2 & No. 3 / Concerto for Two Pianos & Percussion / Violin Concerto No. 2 / Rhapsodies No. 1 & No. 2 (The Royal Edition No. 2 of 100) (Audio CD)
Fortunately, there ARE fine performances available of these tremendous works BESIDES these but... Philippe Entremont's performance with Leonard Bernstein conducting of Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 2, presented here, is one of the most exciting and thrilling recordings on the planet. Certainly, on my personal list, it is one of Entremont's greatest triumphs as a recording artist. If you are familiar with his other concerto recordings, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Khachaturian, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saens, etc., let me say: this recording is special. While his other recordings may be described as adequate, while perhaps (in each case) surpassed by recordings of other artists in a crowded field, SOMETHING UNIQUE occurred when Bernstein & Entremont joined to record these Bartok Concerti (Nos. 2 & 3). The electricity (in No. 2) is there -- in abundance -- from start to finish. The recording of the 3rd Concerto is equally delightful, but with a bit more competition available from other pianists. Still, there is no recorded performance of Bartok's 3rd Concerto that I like better than Entremont's, which is perhaps my favorite. **THIS CONCERTO NO. 2, however, is TRULY A GEM**
Since this recording (of Bartok 2nd Piano Concerto), Maurizio Pollini has, alas, given us perhaps an equally riveting performance with Claudio Abbado & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. So, if this becomes entirely unavailable (it is, now, out-of-print...), thankfully Pollini has given us another GREAT performance...
But it doesn't end there: Isaac Stern's heartstring-pulling performance of the Bartok Violin Concerto (No. 2) is unsurpassed in it's sheer emotional intensity and -- genius -- it is Stern's piece. Other performances are more perfect in many ways, but none have Stern's captivating stream of inspiration, nor the lush tone he pulls from his magnificent Guarnerius from beginning to end! Add to that Stern's absolutely DEFINITIVE performances of BOTH Violin Rhapsodies (1 & 2)--ONLY Isaac Stern plays these two gems as spontaneous & "authentically" gypsy-like, as though both works were composed because of Isaac Stern. In short: this tiny little collection of Bartok masterpieces in the concerto literature includes AT LEAST four of the best Bartok solo-instrument-with-orchestra recordings ever made. The two violin Rhapsodies have been unavailable for long stretches of time in years past, and the elusive Entremont/Bernstein Bartok Concerto recordings MAY never surface again!
DON'T LET THIS GEM PASS YOU BY...I've got my copy!
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