Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra / Martinu: Memorial to Lidice / Klein: Partita for Strings
These new recordings by the Philadelphia Orchestra are stunners. The Bartok is presented as the centerpiece it is; each of the orchestra's sections plays like virtuosi, and conductor Eschenbach infuses it all with great forward propulsion, with every note and phrase clearly articulated. The Martinu is a memorial to a town destroyed by the Nazis, and again Eschenbach is a master of detail and tension; the climax is heart-rending. The Klein Partita is unfamiliar and certainly worth hearing. It is a folk-infused work that has great charm, and the Philadelphia Orchestra sounds simply luscious. Highly recommended.--Robert Levine