In his double review, Erik Levi enjoys a virtuosic double helping of Bartók and Prokofiev from a gripping Cleveland Orchestra
Bartók • Prokofiev
*Prokofiev: Symphony No. 6 **Bartók: String Quartet No. 3; Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin
The Cleveland Orchestra/Franz Welser-Möst
Cleveland Orchestra *TCO0010-D/**TCO0011-D
*41:52 mins/**33:37 mins (digital)
Clip: Prokofiev's Symphony No. 6 – Third Movement
Undoubtedly, the big news in the Cleveland Orchestra’s latest set of digital releases is Stanley Konopka’s resourceful and imaginative transcription for string orchestra of Bartók’s Third Quartet.
I need hardly add that the results are stunning. As you’d expect, the Cleveland string section relishes the opportunity to bring a completely different sonic perspective to a relatively familiar work.
But what really makes this arrangement so convincing is Konopka’s decision to follow the precedent set by Bartók in his Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta and reconceive the work for double string orchestra.
This enables Konopka to create a much more varied texture, juxtaposing passages featuring four solo instruments with a much fuller body of strings.
The pungent idiom of the Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin makes an ideal partner.
Once again, the orchestra delivers virtuosic playing with some particularly expressive woodwind solos.
Franz Welser-Möst injects a suitably high-octane level of adrenaline into the concluding dance, but the cityscape sonorities of the Introduction, though precisely articulated, sound a bit too polite for music that should convey violence.
Such reservations are swept aside when it comes to his gripping interpretation of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6 which lays bare the darkest subtexts in the music.
After a deeply unsettling first movement, the harsh sonorities of the Largo create an even more disquieting impact, and Welser-Möst certainly rams home the faux optimism of the Finale. Erik Levi
