Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra (1958) {Classic/RCA LSC-1934 180g} 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip + Redbook CD Version

This is part of a Classic Records Deluxe 1S Edition Box Set of RCA Living Stereo "Shaded Dog" releases. The Bartok is, by far, Bartok's best-known and most popular work, immediately accessible in a way that many of his other mature works are not. Reiner, being as close to Bartok as he was, knew this work "inside and out" and committed a performance for the ages in this session. He of course was also aware of the reason why Bartok chose to parodize the "invasion" theme from Shostakovich's 7th Symphony in the fourth movement of the Concerto, and plays this loopy parody, complete with its growling trombone raspberries, for all it is worth. But the work is of course much more than this oft-mentioned parody, and Reiner's interpretation is as good as any The Concerto is probably the most popular and most frequently performed 20th century piece of orchestral music. Like anything that is played and recorded often, it can seem to be too much of a good thing. To Reiner and his Chicagoans of the 1950s, it was relatively new music, and the fact that it had not yet become standard repertory may have been one reason they were able to project it so vividly: there was no routine to fall into.

LP track listing

Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra

Side One

1. "Introduzione: Andante non troppo; Allegro vivace" - 9:55
2. "Giuoco delle coppie: Allegretto scherzando" - 5:58

Side Two

3. "Elegia: Andante non troppo" - 7:54
4. "Intermezzo interrotto: Allegretto" - 4:13
5. "Finale: Pesante; Presto" - 8:58


Released: 1958 [Classic Records reissue 1994]
Recorded: October 22, 1955 in Orchestra Hall, Chicago
Genre: Classical
Length: 36:58
Label: RCA Living Stereo/Classic Records
Producer: Richard Mohr [reissue produced by Michael Hobson and Ying Tan]

Personnel

* Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner, Conductor







The Classic Records Deluxe 1S Edition Box Set includes:
LSC1806 Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra (Reiner, CSO)
LSC1900 Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique (Munch, BSO)
LSC2398 Khachaturian - Masque...Comedians (Kondrashin, RCAVSO)
LSC2456 Lalo - Symphony Espagnole (Szeryng, Hendl, CSO)
LSC1934 Bartok - Concerto For Orchestra (Reiner, CSO)
LSC2500 Strauss - Waltzes (Reiner, CSO)
LSC2423 Festival (Reiner, CSO)
LSC2541 Liszt - Todtentanz & Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 1 (Janis, Reiner, CSO)
LSC2234 Saint-Saens - Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rubinstein, Wallenstein, SOA)
LSC2471 Rhapsodies (Stokowski, RCAVO)