When you said to "look at the coupling" on the Welser-Most cover, I kept thinking you were referring to the dude humping the ballerina.

The chase music was one of THE pieces that turned me on to classical music when I was a kid. I grew up in Cincinnati, and in grade school they would occasionally bus us downtown to hear the CSO (under, if I recall correctly, Erich Kunzel). On one of these jaunts (3rd grade? 4th grade? I dunno) the CSO played the savage 'chase' from The Miraculous Mandarin, and I came home raving to my Mom all about this Bela Bartok person. I had never heard anything that 'wild' before.

It certainly was a task to find the best recording of this, musically and sonically. Boulez and the NY Phil in 1972! This is a work that needs big dynamics, especially the crescendos! I just knew you would come through for me, Dave!

I like when you talk also about the worst recordings and not only about the best.

I love the Dorati Mercury recording - and also the Schoenberg/Berg/Webern "X number of Pieces for Orchestra" recording he made about the same time. Those recordings absolutely set the standard for playing this music. I heard Schwartz do Mandarin live in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic a few years back. That was amazing. They don't play Bartok all that often - they let their neighbours in Budapest have all the fun. But Schwartz kicked their butts, and they played the snot out of it. It was electrifying.

The Dorati Decca version has a superb organ entry in the opening movement. Worth hearing at least once as the overall effect is superb (your neighbours may disagree...).

Great selections. There is also a Ballet Suite of the Mandarin recorded by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Ormandy , I like it a lot.

Abbado is probably my go-to for this one. All of my friends flee when I put on any of the dozen or so recordings I own. A good way to clear out unwanted guests who've overstayed their welcome. The recording is terrifyingly dynamic and blisteringly fast. Schwarz is great, as well as both with Boulez. I really need to get Chailly's and Dohnayni's.

I struggled a long time with the Mandarin, but now that I got a bit older I really believe it's one of Bartók's masterworks... I grew up with Solti, which I still appreciate. But the ones you refer to easily outmatch him. I'm always a fan of Chailly in this music. He always adds a lyrical quality to the music, however visceral it may be. And of course I really plead for a Dohnanyi box...

About that original ending to the Concerto for Orchestra - it reminds me of the disappointing original ending to the Enigma Variations. Once you've heard the ending where the composer pulls out all the stops, nothing else will do. About the original ending to the Bartok Violin Concerto #2 - that's a bit of a different case. Bartok ended the concerto with a fabulous orchestral coda, but the soloist for the premiere whined that he wanted to play right up to the end. So Bartok discarded the coda and rewrote the ending with a conventional flourish for the soloist. Christian Tetzlaff and Michael Gielen recorded the original ending. It's ferocious.

I remember hearing Boulez' second Cleveland recording of The Rite of Spring and bring startled by the tempo for the Danse Sacrale. Why was it so measured? And then I realised it was to make the harmonies clear - so that the music became even more creepy and oppressive through the weight and strangeness of those endlessly repeated harmonies. You get used to hearing just a furious noise in the Danse Sacrale but here is a case, as you point out, of a slower tempo enhancing the effect of the music rather than muting it.

What a wonderful tangerine it is! The Miraculous Mandarin is another video I was eagerly awaiting - it’s my favorite single Bartok composition. The Naxos/Schwartz recording is an outstanding recent performance as the clips ably demonstrate. Lots of spine and verve to keep things moving boisterously as they should. Boulez with the New York Phil is my absolute favorite; the ensemble and the conductor sympathize with the work in a perfectly exciting way. The other Boulez is great too, although I think Ivan Fischer is my #2. I’ll have to give Slatkin/St. Louis a listen. Thanks for the survey Dave!

Your videos can be as interesting for their sidebars as for their subject matter. You're so right about recording and context. What soulds spectacular on one system is lifeless on another, and a performance that tries your patience at one time soothes or inspires at another. Your Seattle excerpts caught my attention. I'm not entirely happy with either of my versions, an old Turnabout with Reinhardt and the SWDR orchestra, and the Abbado, the former poorly recorded, the latter blurring much of the detail.

Hi David, have you heard the new performance of Welser-Most with the Cleveland Orchestra? It seems that the director has matured the approach of this work! Best regards

My late grandmother always had tangerines for breakfast - to keep her "regular", she said - so maybe that deaf lady was a distant relative.

Great discussion of a miraculous work! My favorite is Ivan Fischer’s, but I also have Abbado/LSO and Boulez/Chicago and really like them, too. I had Dorati/Detroit on cassette and remember how great it sounded. Finally, I have the Welser-Most for the same reason you do-that fantastic Britten Prince of the Pagodas with Oliver Knussen! BTW: after your latest Marriner talk I ordered the Honegger set with the CzechPhil/Baudo. Thanks for that and for your Fanfare Hall of Fame review!

"Every morning with my tea" is mind blowing. But now I can see another Hurwitz series or more, "music to start your day," " music to not start your day, "or "music for the deaf."

I bought the Chailly recording thanks to your advice. Electric performance!! I love everything on this disc. The Boulez NYP is still a personal favourite for its ferocity but the sound quality of this Chailly recording is amazing. The Concerto for Orch sounds divine!!

One of my favorite pieces. I actually got to see the three Bartok stage works in one evening back in '81 at English National Opera/Sadler's Wells - a one-of-a-kind experience. I don't know that Dohnanyi performance/2fer at all, so immediately ordering it. I have loved the Boulez NYPhil recording forever - it was my introduction to the piece, and it seriously imprinted. Dutton Vocalion has been doing wonderful remasterings of certain Boulez recordings (and other 70s CBS surround-sound recordings, plus the RCA classic film series) on dual-layer CD/SACD, and they couple Mandarin with Boulez's excellent Concerto for orchestra. Really worth getting, proving yet again that the main problem with all those sonically-challenged CBS records wasn't the master recordings, it was the terrible vinyl pressings.

My old school orchestra played this In the gardens of Walton's home in Ischia. Sir William was on the front row and after a few bars he said rather loudly "I can't stand bloody Bartok". I agree with you about The Prince of the Pagodas. Britten's own stereo recording from 1957 is available in very good transfers in one of those cheap 10 CD boxes that you have been reviewing recently. It also includes the composer's 1958 Decca recording of Peter Grimes. Title: Britten 100 the birthday celebration.

I have both of the Dorati recordings, as well as some others. I definitely have to hear hear the complete by Schwartz. Thanks for sharing those.

Fischer's one is love at first listen: such a pristine sonic quality! it's like having the Budapest Orchestra in your livingroom. Absolutely gorgeous, like the "Concerto" on the same disc. My personal "sleeper" in Bartok's repertoire. Thanks David!

Just listened to Chailly - WOW! (PLEASE do the Violin Concerto next! )

Another cultural link, like that of your opera patron: in Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg cult novel "Candy" (1958), Bartok 's MM is sweet innocent heroine Candy's favorite LP, and as she plays the record in the morning the narrator describes its gruesome plot.

"Ba Ba Baa - Ba Ba Ba ... Blah!" That summed up my opinion of Bartok until I saw your video. I always considered him as too "weird" for my tastes. But when I listened to your samples, Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" immediately came to mind (which I love). I really enjoyed "The Miraculous Mandarin", much to my surprise. I tend to shy away from "modern composers" (though I love Sibelius, Strauss, Honegger, etc.). I have a new appreciation for Bartok thanks to you (I won't dismiss a composer based on trying to listen to one piece once). Now I can compare which versions of Bartok's composition I prefer (like I did with Honegger). Cheers!

"The delights of citrus fruit," HAHAHAHAHAHA! You're in rare form! Years ago I was knocked flat by the Martinon/Chicago Symphony Mandarin recording, wondering how I would respond today; do you know it? Your choices here, as always, are spot on.

I was playing my LP of the Ozawa/Boston recording on DG the other day. Stupendous music!

Urban realist Liebestod: that's a hoot!

There are so many superb performances of this work, but for me the Fischer stands just a little bit a part. It is so savage and so creepy. I don't mean to take anything away from the Dohnanyi, but I think the Fischer hits the mark a little bit better. Once you start it, you just can't turn it off. Everything happens so inevitably. It's my go-to recording.

Whilst comparisons are invidious I think MM is as significant a ballet as The Rite of Spring - in fact it could be titled the The Rite of Urban Decay! Completely agree about the chase not being done too fast (I think there's trombone glissandos in there, correct me if I'm wrong, which really need to register) - got to know the work through Dorati's Detroit version and he paces it fantastically at that point. Have to say though out of the many versions I have Chailly is just superb. Wow listen to those Concertgebouw woodwinds particularly! However all sections shine here!

Hi Dave, would you do a video on Enescu ? (way beyond the Rumanian Rhapsody!) What about Szymanowski? I'd be really interested to know your thoughts on these two great composers.

And here's quite a sleeper: the Melbourne Symphony with Hiroyuki Iwaki conducting. I bought it for Stravinsky's Agon, and was pleasantly surprised and knocked over by the Mandarin as well--the only one other than Boulez/New York that gets the knee-to-the-groin gutsiness of this music. Coupled with a great Concerto for Orchestra, and a damn good Stravinsky Petroushka as well. Go for it.

Wonderful shootout- You covered most of em! I must contribute; I find the sonics with Rattle’s version superior !

You can have breakfast with just about any thing 😋 hajahhahaaha, thanks for making me laugh today. I really needed it, Sir

I don't know if you heard it yet, but I would suggest the new Dutton Epoch Boulez/NYPO mastered in the original Quadraphonic sound but only if you are set-up for 4 channel sound. Magnificent and truly creepy! Wonderful!

That chase passage done by the Seattle Symphony is scary as hell. wow, just WOW LOVE his hilarious critique of the things either Bartok, or a given orchestra, don't do well. He's such a good critic that he makes me want to hear the bad versions just to enjoy how mediocre they are, like a film critic who tells you a movie is such an awful turkey, that you are compelled rush out to enjoy that train-wreck as pure camp farce, with plenty of popcorn. (Not a bad way to learn how to be a discerning listener. )

One of the things I judge is the chase sequence. I like the trombone part is not too rushed and is audible. I also want to hear the percussion clearly which happens with Dorati/Decca and the Dohnanyi/Vienna. Another favorite is fairly unknown by the Mahler Jugenderorchester conducted by Eotvos. I'm somewhat of a collector of recordings of this work. I agree with Boulez/NYP, Ozawa/Boston and have yet to hear the Ivan Fisher version you mentioned.

I've got the Mercury Dorati and the Fischer of the complete ballet as well as number of versions of the suite. It's certainly an extraordinary (sic) work.

Yep, the Fischer recording is my favourite - deliciously nasty, sleazy and brutal...

Wonderful talk, Dave. By the way, I own the Abbado/LSO recording of the whole ballet, and the Martinon/CSO recording of the suite.

Our local fabulous Houston Ballet has done this and just wish it was on DVD.

This video is rich in charming Hurwitzisms - it really is.

I’ll have to give Slatkin a try. Slatkin/St Louis recordings on RCA always sounded somewhat muted to me. The brass seemed very far away and lacking authority . I noticed this especially in his Swan Lake and Shostakovich 8 and began limiting myself to his American recordings (Interestingly his EMI Barber and Copland disc didn’t seem to share this problem). I have replaced my college system since then, so maybe I’ll have a similar experience as you did with the Schwartz recording.

I like The Miraculous Tangerine. It would go well with a Borodin piece I once saw advertised; In Average Asia.

My first recording of the Mandarin was the Dohnanyi.

There's a recording made by LA Phil and Salonen- closely released upon the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Kinda wished to hear your thoughts on that rendition!😔

Well, I know a guy who listens to Webern at breakfast. He really does. Me too, I would prefer Bartók, I must confess. Thank you for this great talk. I just want to add that in the new edition of the score the UE prolongued the mess in sticking together the stage version and the suite in one score, but at least one doesn't have to hold it upside down. However, the worst Bartók-score is the pocket score of the Wooden Prince. It's useless. Concerning the recordings you did not mention: There is an early one with János Sándor, which is a wild ride with rough brass. Do you know Alsop? - I hesitate...

Bonjour David, what do you think of Antal Dorati's Music for strings, percussion and celesta which is coupled with the Detroit version of this Mandarin ?

I'll satisfy my need to revel in the delights of citrus fruit by listening to The Love for Three Oranges.

Dear Mr Hurwitz! I wonder if you have played in a performance of Tchaikovsky's Manfed? Best wishes Fred.

I’ve long enjoyed the Dutoit MSO Deccan recording but recently finally heard the Boulez NYP recording which I find a little more primal and edgy compared to the CSO DG recording.

For Your Bluebeard's Castle story I thought you meant Sam Raimi the director of the Spiderman movies. I assume now that it was Samuel Ramey, the basso

Actually the best recording I've heard on that work is with Janos Ferencsik. Much more savage and raw compared to Boulez. Salonen is modern yes, but too fast! Even faster than the Duracell rabbit!

Does Chailly ever put out a bad recording??? I first discovered him through his Sinfonia (Berio), which is a standout. So he's becoming my go-to.

Why is it - in your opinion - that Slatkin doesn’t actually have a box? It’s odd.

Has the Blockbuster Ormandy Edition arrived at Casa Hurwitz for review?

Ah, Franz Worse-than-Most! Did he ever make a worthwhile record?