Bartók: The Wooden Prince & The Miraculous Mandarin Suite

[The Wooden Prince’s] essential warmth, rooted in folk-like melodies (but never folksiness) , comes across well here in Susanna Mälkki’s recording, since with a feeling for the score’s rubato... — BBC Music Magazine, September 2019, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 31st May 2019
Catalogue No: BIS2328
Label: BIS
Length: 72 minutes

Record Review

29th June 2019

Record of the Week
International Classical Music Awards

2019

Nominee - Symphonic Music

In stock

Usually despatched within 1 working day

BIS - up to 30% off

Special offer ends: 25/07/2022

This release includes a digital booklet

Listen immediately in My Library

BIS - up to 30% off

Special offer ends: 25/07/2022

Bartók: The Wooden Prince

Work length54:01

$14.00

$16.80

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Susanna Mälkki

I. Introduction

Track length4:41

$1.00

$1.20

II. First Dance. Dance of the Princess in the Forest

Track length2:20

$1.00

$1.20

III. The Prince Falls in Love

Track length2:08

$1.00

$1.20

IV. Towards the Castle of the Princess - V. Second Dance. Dance of the Trees

Track length4:51

$1.00

$1.20

VI. The Prince Continues on His Way - VII. Third Dance. Dance of the Waves

Track length4:00

$1.00

$1.20

VIII. The Prince Has an Idea

Track length4:39

$1.00

$1.20

IX. The Princess Is Curious - X. Fourth Dance. Dance of the Princess with the Wooden Prince

Track length7:55

$2.00

$2.40

XI. The Prince Despairs

Track length5:50

$1.00

$1.20

XII. The Prince Is Restored

Track length3:45

$1.00

$1.20

XIII. Return of the Princess - XIV. Fifth Dance

Track length3:03

$1.00

$1.20

XV. Collapse of the Wooden Prince - XVI. Sixth Dance

Track length1:40

$1.00

$1.20

XVII. Seventh Dance - XVIII. The Despair of the Princess

Track length4:49

$1.00

$1.20

XIX. The Happy End

Track length4:20

$1.00

$1.20

Bartók: Concert Suite from ‘The Miraculous Mandarin’, Op. 19

Work length18:56

$6.00

$7.20

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Susanna Mälkki

I. Introduction - II. The 3 Tramps and the Girl

Track length2:40

$1.00

$1.20

III. First Decoy Game. The Old Rake

Track length3:41

$1.00

$1.20

IV. Second Decoy Game. The Young Boy

Track length3:09

$1.00

$1.20

V. Third Decoy Game. The Mandarin Appears

Track length2:25

$1.00

$1.20

VI. The Girl Begins to Dance for the Mandarin

Track length4:10

$1.00

$1.20

VII. The Mandarin Chases the Girl

Track length2:51

$1.00

$1.20

About
Reviews
Explore

About

The Wooden Prince and The Miraculous Mandarin are – together with the earlier opera Bluebeard’s Castle – the only stage works by Béla Bartók. They stand apart from the more abstract and often more explicitly folk-related character of the music that we primarily associate with the composer. They are nevertheless major achievements that in different ways highlight Bartók’s imaginative use of the modern orchestra. Set in an enchanted forest, The Wooden Prince is based on a fairytale-like libretto featuring a prince and princess. The two are subjected to various trials, but at the end of the ballet they are allowed to come together and live – we assume – happily ever after. In stark contrast, The Miraculous Mandarin takes place in an urban brothel where three robbers force a girl to seduce men so that they can overpower and kill them. The subject-matter and the erotic qualities of much of the music caused a scandal at the première in 1926, and for a long time the score was primarily performed in the shorter concert version heard on the present release, the first from the team of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Susanna Mälkki, the orchestra’s chief conductor since 2016.

Reviews

September 2019

[The Wooden Prince’s] essential warmth, rooted in folk-like melodies (but never folksiness) , comes across well here in Susanna Mälkki’s recording, since with a feeling for the score’s rubato she completely commands a rich-sounding Helsinki Philharmonic; the entire orchestra seems to flex and breathe with the music.

August 2019

Mälkki’s reading has much to offer. She elicits brilliant, rhythmically disciplined playing from the Helsinki Philharmonic…[and] is also a fine storyteller who brings the characters vividly to life…We’ve had some superb accounts of this ballet over the years…and Mälkki stands with the best of them. Indeed, given the excellence of BIS’s engineering, hers is easily a prime recommendation.

June 2019

Virtuoso orchestral playing, superbly recorded.

The Arts Desk August 2019

it’s good to report that Susanna Mälkki’s quick-witted Helsinki Philharmonic performance is outstanding, and sumptuously engineered to boot. Mälkki’s coupling is the suite from The Miraculous Mandarin, played with plenty of ferocity and abandon.

Classical Ear July 2019

Mälkki's meticulously prepared conception keeps the action nicely on the boil and has plenty of personality, incident and atmosphere to commend it.

Offer, Bartók: The Wooden Prince & The Miraculous Mandarin Suite

SACD

Downloads

Contents