Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin: Suite No. 2/Hungarian Peasant Songs - Bela Bartok [CD]

Bartók's `The Miraculous Mandarin' (published as `A Pantomime in One Act') was composed at a time of violent unrest in Hungary. The Soviet Hungarian Republic had collapsed in 1919 and was replaced by an ultra-nationalist regime which persecuted communists, Jews and leftists and left over 1,500 dead and thousands imprisoned without trial. It is against this bloody political and social backdrop that the composer, recovering from Spanish Flu, set about a musical depiction of Lengyel's `pantomime grotesque'. Bartók was spared service in World War I after failing several medicals. He spent the war years collecting folk songs and some of these provided material for the 'Hungarian Peasant Songs', which he returned to in 1933 and orchestrated.

Disc 1
1. I. Introduction (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
2. II. 1st Decoy Game (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
3. III. 2nd Decoy Game (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
4. IV. 3rd Decoy Game (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
5. V. The Mandarin Enters (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
6. VI. Dance of the Girl (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
7. VII. The Chase (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
8. VIII. Suddenly the Mandarin's Haed Appears (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
9. IX. The Mandarin Falls On the Floor (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
10. I. Romance (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
11. II. Allegro (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
12. III. Allegretto (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
13. IV. Allegro (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
14. V. Largamento (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
15. VI. Moderato (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
16. VII. Allegro Moderato (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
17. VIII. Allegro (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
18. I. Comodo (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
19. II. Allegro Scherzando (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
20. III. Andante (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
21. IV. Comodo (Bela Bartok) - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra