CD's

Compact discs

Bartók-Serly: Mikrokosmos Suite
Bartók: Dance Suite
Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin, Suite

New Symphony Orchestra of London
Tibor Serly and Franco Autori, conductors

Béla Bartók heard his complete work, The Miraculous Mandarin; a pantomime with music, performed only once in his life. With one exception, all further public performances were banned on account of the stage action (a woman and a man embrace each other). The concert suite, prepared by the composer, contains somewhat over half of the complete score. The Dance Suite was Béla Bartók’s contribution to a festive concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the unification of Pest, Buda and Óbuda into one city, Budapest, in 1923. Tibor Serly created the Mikrokosmos Suite using seven pieces from the piano series of the same item title and one folk song Bartók had earlier set to piano. On this record he conducts this work as well as The Miraculous Mandarin Suite, Franco Autori conducts the Dance Suite. #1301-

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Bartók: The Wooden Prince

New Symphony Orchestra of London,
Walter Susskind, conductor

Music of the complete ballet to the libretto of Béla Balázs, with English translation of the complete libretto and notes. #1308-

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Bartók: Cantata Profana

Richard Lewis, tenor; Marko Rothmüller, baritone;
The New Symphony Orchestra of London and chorus;
Walter Susskind, conductor

Bartók: Four Slovak Folk Songs and eight songs from “27 Choruses’’

The Concert Choir, Margaret Hillis, conductor

Bartók: Viola Concerto

William Primrose viola;
The New Symphony Orchestra of London, Tibor Serly, conductor

Béla Bartók’s Cantata Profana, based on a Roumanian ballad about the enchantment of nine boys taught nothing but to hunt for stags. Consequently they turn into stags themselves, never to return to man’s imperfect world. Both the Slovak folk songs arranged for chorus, as well as the eight choruses include references deploring idle existence. The latter group are originally written by Bartók. The Viola Concerto, left in the form of first sketches when the composer died, is recorded here by the artist for whom the concerto was written; the orchestra is conducted by Tibor Serly, the composer’s friend, who did the first realization of the work from the sketches. #1309-

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Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle

Judith Hellwig, soprano; Endre Koreh, bass,
The New Symphony Orchestra of London, Walter Susskind, conductor

Opera in one act to the libretto of Béla Balázs, with English translation of the complete libretto and notes.#1310-

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Bartók: String Quartet No. 3
Alban Berg: String Quartet, Opus 3
Alfredo Casella: 5 Pieces for String Quartet
Igor Stravinsky: 3 Pieces for String Quartet

The New Music String Quartet

The Bartók and Stravinsky were the first LP record made by this fine quartet, and produced on this label. Recording was done under primitive conditions in a New York apartment, recorded originally on 16 inch discs. The Berg and Casella were recorded on tape in a school building in Peterborough, New Hampshire, while the school was closed for the summer, under superior acoustic conditions. #1906-

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Beethoven: String quartets, Opus 14, No. 1 and Opus 59, No. 3

The New Music String Quartet

The Opus 14, No. 1 is better known as a piano sonata and is not even regarded as one of Beethoven’s quartets. He made the arrangement, partly to show that only the composer himself could tackle such a task, as so much needed to be altered for the new medium. Beethoven started to use the newly invented device called “metronome” in specifying tempi for his works. His tempo for the last movement of the Opus 59, No. 3 has been consistently suspected to be erroneous and is nearly always played much slower. Here the New Music Quartet performs the work at the directed tempo, just in case Beethoven did not make a mistake. #1909-

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Liszt: Variations on the Prelude by J. S. Bach, “Weinen, Klagen...”
Liszt: Weihnachtsbaum, excerpts
Bartók: Three Rondos; Sonatina; 8 pieces from For Children

Ilona Kabos, piano

All these works were recorded in New York’s Town Hall and the Liszt pieces were criticised when first released (mid 1950's) as “the best piano record I have heard, bar none” (Edward Tatnall Canby, Saturday Review). #1910-

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A. Scarlatti: Quartet in D minor
Tartini: Quartet in D major
Boccherini: Quartet in A major
Franz Xaver Richter: Quartet in C major, Op. 5, No. 1
Karl Stamitz: Quartet in A major, Op. 14

The New Music String Quartet

#1911-

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Bartók: Out of Doors, five piano pieces
Bartók: Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet and Piano
Bartók: Sonata for Solo Violin

Leonid Hambro, piano; Stanley Drucker, clarinet; Robert Mann, violin

The cycle Out of Doors includes the Music of the Night, sounds of nature such as the singing of frogs; The Chase, obviously on horseback. The Contrasts was written after the composer heard jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman on a phonograph record. The Solo Violin Sonata is recorded here using the quarter tones in the last movement, as it was originally conceived. #1916-

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Bartók: Sonatas for Violin and Piano, Nos. 1 and 2

Robert Mann, violin; Leonid Hambro, piano

These sonatas, dedicated to the violinist Jelly Arányi (pronounced "Yelli"), were recorded in the late 1950's. Only the first sonata was hitherto available on "long playing" discs. #1922-

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All compact discs are US $ 15.00 each