Helsinki Po/Malkki - B?la Bart?k: Concerto for Orchestra

On two highly praised discs, Susanna M�lkki and her players in the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra have released recordings of B�la Bart�k�s three scores for the stage � The Miraculous Mandarin, The Wooden Prince and Bluebeard�s Castle, all written before 1918. The team now takes on two of his late orchestral masterpieces. Composed in 1936 for the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is one of the purest examples of Bart�k�s mature style, with its synthesis of folk music, classicism and modernism. One immediately striking feature is the unusual instrumentation: two string orchestras seated on opposite sides of the stage, with percussion and keyboard instruments in the middle and towards the back.