5.0 out of 5 stars
The first recording of a new edition, September 4, 2009
This review is from: Miraculous Mandarin (Audio CD)
This recording is really exceptional. First because it's a rarity records with David Robertson, one of the most competent conductors of his generation. I really can't understand the reason of this .The CD begins with the Dance Suite very well played and one of the most interesting readings of the Four Pieces for orchestra. But the high point of this cd is "The Miraculous Mandarin" .Bela Bartok had a lot of problems with censorship because the plot of "The Miraculous Mandarin" . Because of this , in Germany, for a planned execution ,he reduced some bars of this magnificent music , and the version first published by the Universal was this one , in some places shortened (30 bars at all). The son of Bartok rediscovered the original music and published this again in the Universal. This is the first recording that uses this complete version. I know the two excelent recordings of Boulez ( Boulez used the new edition recently in a concert with the Berlin Philharmonic), The Sandor at the integral, and the recent recordings of Fischer ( fantastic) and Chailly. But Robertson was in 2001 the first that used this version. These 30 bars are very revelatory , with glissandos in the piano, and special effects in the strings.Robertson is very accurate with all details , and his lecture is very impressive .Alsop (Naxos) uses this new edition, but she is by far inferior.
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