Search - Bela Bartok, Leonard Slatkin, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra :: Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin; Concerto For Orchestra

The Miraculous Mandarin features what has to be the most exciting chase scene in all of music. Although describing a terrified woman pursued by a lust-crazed Chinese man, the music sounds more like a science fiction/horror extravaganza in which the heroine gets chased by a hoard of demonic alien creatures. Perhaps that's Bartók's point. Leonard Slatkin conducts this terrifying scene--and the whole score--with uninhibited ferocity. It's intensely exciting, and with a very fine Concerto for Orchestra making a generous coupling, that means two major works on one disc. A good deal for great music, but don't listen to the Mandarin in the dark! --David Hurwitz