{"product_id":"bartok-the-miraculous-mandarin","title":"Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWINNER: ‘Choc Classica de l’année’ at the 2016 Classica Magazine awards.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThis second recording from the Phillharmonia and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s 2011 Bela Bartók series,\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eInfernal Dance\u003c\/em\u003e, features three works.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOne-act pantomime\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Miraculous Mandarin \u003c\/em\u003eis followed by the six-movement\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDance Suite,\u003c\/em\u003e and\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eContrasts\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efor violin, clarinet and piano, performed by Philharmonia Concertmaster Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay, Principal Clarinet Mark van de Wiel, and pianist Yefim Bronfman.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eContrasts\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eis one of Béla Bartók s most imaginative forays into the world of chamber music. His only chamber work involving a woodwind instrument (for Piano, Clarinet and Violin),\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eContrasts\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eoriginated in a commission from the American King of Swing, Benny Goodman. Composed to mark the 50th anniversary of Budapest in 1923, Bartók’s\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDance Suite\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a rhapsodic collection of folk inspired tunes that marked a sonorous change in direction from the composer’s more dissonant works up to that point. The ballet-pantomime T\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ehe Miraculous Mandarin\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis raw, dangerous, exotic and elemental: using the rarely performed full ballet score it is frenzied music, percussive, sensuous and violent, telling a shocking story of desire and death.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“Salonen and the Philharmonia relish the rhythmic barbarity, which rivals that of\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Rite of Spring\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— the strings digging deep in the furious allegro. Salonen is in his element in Bartok’s hardcore modernism, but the more accessible\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDance Suite\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eis superbly played, too.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHugh Canning,\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“Salonen’s performance with the Philharmonia, though also recorded live in the Festival Hall, somehow achieves a grander sonic scope, but that doesn’t diminish the ferocious savagery that Salonen uncorks, with rasping trombones and thumping timpani given their head and the string sound sometimes suggesting a lacerating whip.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe fillers here are Bartók’s\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDance Suite\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— virtually an ethnomusicological tour of eastern Europe — and his fabulously acerbic\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eContrasts\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efor clarinet, violin and piano. The cartwheeling clarinet part was written for Benny Goodman; Mark Van de Wiel is superb here, as are the violinist Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay and the pianist Yefim Bronfman.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eRichard Morrison,\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“What I love about this recording… from Salonen and the Philharmonia [is] we get that real now-or-never adrenalin that you get in a live performance… that sort of white heat focus really comes across in the playing. I find it really thrilling.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eKate Mollosen, \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBBC Radio 3 Record Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"philharmonia","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48059067269433,"sku":"","price":10.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0729\/7810\/4633\/files\/466_bartok_-_the_miraculous_mandarin_1.jpg?v=1707499095","url":"https:\/\/shop.philharmonia.co.uk\/products\/bartok-the-miraculous-mandarin","provider":"Philharmonia Orchestra","version":"1.0","type":"link"}