Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin (Complete Ballet) /  Dance Suite / Hungarian Pictures
To get an idea of how thoroughly Marin Alsop has studied the composer's style, check out the fourth of the Hungarian Pictures (its title translated here as "Slightly Tipsy"). She has the orchestra playing this music with the same kind of erratic, lurchy rhythm the composer used inhis own piano recording, a comic effect which is difficult to reproduce in an orchestra. The performance ofThe Miraculous Mandarinoffers the complete ballet, with its breathtaking choral finale, not just the more commonly heard suite. Alsop gets the orchestra to play with powerful rhythmic drive (equally true in the exciting Dance Suite) and a great deal of color.  Some of the power is dissipated by slightly diffuse recording, but it's still a  pleasure to hear this wonderful music played with such conviction and fine style. The price is right, and even the annotations are excellent.--Leslie Gerber