On this CD, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, conducted by Ivan Fischer, will play a series of dance compositions by Bartok in addition to the ballet "The miraculous mandarin". All these dances were originally written for piano by Bartok and later orchestrated by himself. Despite the rich orchestral garb that envelops these miniatures, it is still immediately clear that this music is based on folk
… music. In timing and rhythmic finesse, this performance will have few equals. The CD ends with the ballet pantomime "The miraculous mandarin". The rather sinister fact of this ballet - a mandarin tries to seduce a street hooker and then spontaneously bleeds to death, if she really sincerely responds to his advances - made performances a rarity for years.more
