While
Pierre Boulez's high performance standards are largely met on this CD, his perfectionism creates problems in
Bartók's Dance Suite. What should be a boisterous dance work without reservations is presented here in an overly pristine and cautious performance, and the suite is made to sound like a series of pretty vignettes. This is not what
Bartók intended, and
Boulez should have known better. His recording of the same work in 1972 with the
New York Philharmonic is more energetic and vital, with structure being a major concern and beautiful sonorities less of an obsession. The rest of this disc is less problematic.
Bartók's Pictures (2) is treated as a rhapsody, which the work's slow-fast form and Hungarian themes clearly indicate. Considering that
Bartók's early sound was influenced by
Liszt and
Strauss,
Boulez renders the work in a romantic manner, without a trace of parody. The Hungarian Sketches require a less studied approach, since the music itself is direct and most appealing when played as written.
Boulez and the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra give it a brilliant performance. The Divertimento for string orchestra receives the most bracing reading on the disc. The strings play with brusqueness and vigor in keeping with the work's neo-Classical orientation.