Bartók: Les Violons du Roy

Bela Bartok (Composer), Jean-Marie Zeitouni (Conductor), Les Violons du Roy (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Les Violons du Roy
• Conductor: Jean-Marie Zeitouni
• Composer: Bela Bartok
• Audio CD (September 30, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atma Classique
• ASIN: B001DELXDU
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #511,393 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Soft-Edged Bartók, October 24, 2008

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bartók: Les Violons du Roy (Audio CD)

This disc contains three of Bartók's marvelous works for string orchestra. Well, more or less. Actually the Divertimento is the only Bartók score here originally for strings alone. The Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta has, um, percussion and celesta, too. And the Rumanian Folk Dances have been arranged for string ensemble with piano obbligato by this disc's conductor, Jean-Marie Zeitouni.

The Divertimento and MfSP&C were commissioned in the 1930s by Paul Sacher for his Basle Chamber Orchestra. Zeitouni's approach to both of them is rather soft-edged and even a little bit timid. But for those who find Bartók a bit harsh for their taste, these might be more than acceptable performances. They are among the most-played of Bartók's orchestral pieces and there are many recordings. I'm particularly fond of Boulez's recording of the Divertimento with the Chicago Symphony Béla Bartók: Divertimento / Dance Suite / Hungarian Sketches / Two Pictures - Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez, and although it is in less-than-modern sound, I love Reiner's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, also with the CSO Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta; Hungarian Sketches. The latter also contains one of the very best performances of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra. For a MfSP&C in modern sound you could do worse than have Harnoncourt's version with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe Béla Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta; Divertimento for String Orchestra.

Zeitouni's arrangement of Rumanian Folk Dances is mostly just a filler, lasting only seven minutes or so. And it exists in an arrangement for chamber orchestra and winds by Bartók himself. So although Zeitouni's arrangement is pleasant enough, and it has some really nice atmospherics, Bartók's arrangement, albeit for not quite the same kind of ensemble, feels more authentic.

Scott Morrison

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bartok a la Pacquiao, May 6, 2011

By 

RJAdams - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bartók: Les Violons du Roy (Audio CD)

Muscular, atmospheric, and mercurial sound from a smaller ensemble than typically records these masterpieces. Bartok just does not need the plush, massed strings of Vienna or Philadelphia to make his points. One could have wished for a slightly wider/deeper sound stage with MSPC, and on the very best equipment this may not be an issue. A bracing, hydroelectric alternative to Mississippi-river brand Bartok.