Search - Bartok, Robertson, Orchestre National de Lyon :: Miraculous Mandarin

David Robertson leads a thinking-man's Bartók program. The playing is stunning, all the dynamics are observed, and there's a clarity to all three of the works recorded here that will delight those who love Bartók's brilliant use of the orchestra, his colorations, his inner voices and rhythms. The Four Pieces for Orchestra gets the best performance--the first and third movements are the soul of expressionism, and Robertson gets the strangeness perfectly. The other works, though genuinely good to listen to, lack the sensuality (and danger, in Mandarin) one associates with them; the Lyon forces keep their emotional distance from the music. This is not to say the disc won't excite and please, but for really thrilling performances of Mandarin, especially, go to Fischer or Boulez. --Robert Levine