Béla BARTÓK (1881-1945)
Suite: The Miraculous Mandarin (1927) [21:17]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 (1876) [47:12]
London Symphony Orchestra/Jonathan Pasternack
rec. 16-17 July 2008, Abbey Road Studios, London
NAXOS 8.572448 [68:29]
I must confess that I’m struggling a little to see the raison d’être
behind this disc. The two pieces would sit somewhat uneasily beside each other
in a concert programme, even if separated, perhaps, by a concerto and certainly
by an interval. Yoked together on a single CD the juxtaposition seems even
more strange. In fact, it’s a perplexing partnership.
On the back of the jewel case some prominence is given to the fact that the
recordings were made using all-digital microphones supplied by Sennheiser
and by Neumann, Berlin. Perhaps this is the basis of this project though I
have to say that while the sound quality is satisfactory it doesn’t
strike me as at all exceptional.
The other possibility - and probably the more likely one - is that the disc
is intended to showcase the talent of the American conductor, Jonathan Pasternack.
His pedigree includes studying with both Neeme Järvi and David Zinman.
His conducting seems to me to be efficient but, being honest, I don’t
think he produces results that are anything out of the ordinary.
Bartók’s score is a lurid one, as befits the subject matter.
The composer conjures up some eerie, not to say spooky, sounds from the orchestra
at times. Other passages are brutal and savage. The first couple of times
that I listened to the disc I thought the performance was quite a decent one.
But then, remembering other performances that I’ve heard in the past
I began to think that this newcomer was rather lacking in electricity. At
random I took down from my shelves Sir Simon Rattle’s 1993 recording,
made in Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Admittedly this is a full price disc -
or at least it was when I bought it. Also, it presents the complete ballet
rather than the suite offered by Pasternak but one can compare passages that
occur in both performances. In just the first couple of pages the differences
are stark. Pasternak and the LSO are good enough but turn to Rattle and you
hear far more savagery and definition in the playing - and EMI’s sound
is infinitely superior. Later on, when the Mandarin enters, it’s the
menacing power of the CBSO brass that really grabs the listener’s attention
more than the efforts of the LSO. And as for the passage where the tramps
chase the Mandarin I’m afraid the LSO performance pales by comparison
with the drive and sheer visceral excitement generated by Rattle and the CBSO.
When you factor in also that Rattle and his Birmingham band are so much more
effective and atmospheric in Bartók’s chillingly eerie passages
then I’m afraid it’s a case of the best being the enemy of the
good.
The Brahms symphony receives a decent performance and, once again, I enjoyed
it the first time through. It’s well played - though, let’s be
honest, the LSO could play this score in their sleep - and there’s some
good solo work in the second movement but once I’d heard it a couple
of times I came to the conclusion that the performance never set my pulse
racing in the way that several others have in the past.
Probably anyone making an impulse purchase of this CD will be satisfied but,
for both works, there are other accounts out there in a very competitive market
that have greater claims on collector’s attentions. I wonder if Jonathan
Pasternak might have been better advised to record some less familiar repertoire
which would have filled more of a need. As it is, I’m reluctantly forced
to conclude that this was a disc that didn’t need to be made.
John Quinn
see also review by William
Hedley
An odd pairing of works in performances that, while decent enough, don’t
really compete with the best.