Though Bartók completed the draft of The Miraculous Mandarin by May 1919, he did not write the orchestral score until 1924. At the same time, he wrote the piano reduction (for two pianos), which was published by Universal Edition a year later in 1925. Bartók thought highly of his orchestral score - in 1927 he wrote that 'in my view this is the best work I have so far written for orchestra' - but the full orchestral version did not get published until 1955. Indeed, Bartók and György Kósa performed parts of the piano version on a broadcast by the Hungarian Radio in 1926, long before the full orchestral score was eventually performed (sadly after Bartók's death) in Budapest.
The Miraculous Mandarin seems to be known as a ballet but Bartók was adamant that the piece was a pantomime, not a ballet. The story line is clearly marked in the score at all appropriate places. For instance, six bars after the curtain-rise we read in the score that 'the 1st tramp goes through his pockets looking for money..', then nineteen bars later it continues '.without success'. The music which Bartók composes fits the prescribed action but without the text (or a pantomime performance) we would be hard pressed to know it. I can't help thinking that without the words, which could be regarded as words to a song or to an opera, the listeners don't get the full benefit of the music. It would have been helpful if the booklet accompanying this CD had contained the full text (which, depending on the language, consists of about 400 words) - track by track - rather than just indicating titles for the tracks.
Apart from a few bars shortly before the end of the piece, the first piano has all the melodic lines. Ákos Hernádi seems to shy away from the few song-like passages (for instance, when the old rake talks about love and when later on the shy young man appears) and treats them in a more dance-like manner. Nevertheless, the playing of Hernádi and Károly Mocsári is mesmerising throughout; the 30 minute-long performance seems to go by much quicker than half-an-hour.
According to the late Ern? Lendvai, possibly the most significant Bartók analyst to date, the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion was composed according to the rules (that is, proportions) of the golden section. On the other hand, the all-important drumming in the piece might have been inspired by Bartók's contact with Turkish and Arab folk music. And almost certainly Bartók's second wife, the pianist Ditta Pásztory, was an inspiration: indeed, the first performance was given by Bartók and his wife (and two Swiss percussionists) in Basle in 1938. Bartók specifies that '.one of the pianists should lead the whole ensemble. In addition, he should supervise the percussion players during rehearsal and see that the requirements of the score are strictly observed.' In this piece Mocsári plays the first piano part but it is not clear who led the whole ensemble. However, whoever was the leader did just fine, as the ensemble playing in this far from easy piece is excellent.
I miss the pulse in the very soft opening bars and also in the second piano's (also soft) entry at the beginning of the second movement. Just once a similar problem occurs in a percussion passage. On a crucial note (that is, on the penultimate note in the slow second movement) the xylophone seems a bit flat in pitch. Otherwise I noted perfection and a tremendously exciting performance all the way through. Both pianists, as well as percussionists Franz Lang and Jochen Schorer, are to be heartily congratulated.
Highly recommended.
By Agnes Kory