“…I defy anyone to listen to these performances of the Rhapsodies without a smile on their face. Bartók’s fantastically original combination of instruments works beautifully here, his use of the cimbalom giving a spark of colour that gives it something pretty special, all of which is captured beautifully by the Chandos engineers. James Ehnes sounds like he's having a whale of a time, especially in the faster sections, which are a riot, and the whole performance sounds like it’s only a couple of steps away from the café culture from which it originally sprang. Likewise, the Dance Suite is characterised by an anarchic sense of fun, as though Bartók was playing with all the tools in the musical toy box and loving every effect. The opening has wonderful sense of grotesquerie to it, and Gardner directs the whole thing with energetic thrust which means you never forget this is dance music. His approach pays especially rich dividends in the cut-and-thrust of the third movement, where it helps that the orchestra glitter like quicksilver, and the thrust of the finale is very appealing. However, the contrast of the slower movements also judges the balance well, and sets the seal on a very strong performance…”

“...The folk-inflected and virtuosic two-movement Violin Rhapsodies 1 & 2 are both excellently played by James Ehnes, who has an obvious feel for the idiom... The disc ends with an enchanting account of the Dance Suite (an item more substantial than its title suggests), making a successful close to a very successful disc. The foot-stamping movements are infectious, and each dance well characterised, with the returns of the little ritornello touchingly done... It is a very generous (80 minutes) and very desirable set of contrasting Bartók works. In fact, it would make the ideal introduction to the composer, or a fine modern addition to a collection in which the classic recordings are already well represented.”

*** (Good Album)

Artistic Judgement: Exceptional      

Technical Judgements:  Exceptional    (Dynamics: 5    Tonal Balance: 5      Sound Stage: 5      Detail: 5)

“... the recording is scintillating... Gardner has this traditionally well-behaved orchestra fizzing with attitude and brazen ferocity, but there is hard-earned character too, not least in the swarming string passages of the Concerto for Orchestra’s first scherzo and the comparative warmth of the movement that follows.”

Performance ****         Recording *****

“The Bergen Philharmonic and its chief conductor Edward Gardner give highly accomplished accounts of Bartók’s four most approachable orchestral works... “

“... As ever with Bartók, the folk element is strongly present, here and in the Dance Suite (1923) and Rhapsodies Nos 1 and 2 with the ever persuasive Canadian violinist James Ehnes as soloist, full of Hungarian-Romanian zest. The Bergen orchestra sounds wonderfully alive to Bartók’s rhythmic exactitudes.”