BÉLA BARTÓK (1881-1945): Suite No. 1, Op. 3, Kossuth, Sz 75a, Two Portraits, Op. 5.
Catalogue Number: 09Q056
Label: Naxos
Reference: 8.573307
Format: CD
Price: $11.98
Description: Of these three early works, even Kossuth now has half a dozen competitive recordings. But the earliest one, the 1903 suite, has only one, making this new budget-priced recording a must-have for those who don't have the very old or the newer SACD Hungaroton recording. When you first hear it, you think it's just a colorful and conservative piece of late Romanticism but when you realize what audiences were accustomed to hearing at the time, the controversy it provoked becomes clearer. The Suite is the end of Bartók's conservative youthful period and the beginning of the path that would lead to the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; JoAnn Falletta.