Product Description

Bartók: Cantata Profana
Richard Lewis, tenor; Marko Rothmüller, baritone;
The New Symphony Orchestra of London and chorus;
Walter Susskind, conductor

Bartók: Four Slovak Folk Songs and eight songs from “27 Choruses’’

The Concert Choir, Margaret Hillis, conductor

Bartók: Viola Concerto

William Primrose viola;
The New Symphony Orchestra of London, Tibor Serly, conductor

Béla Bartók’s Cantata Profana, based on a Roumanian ballad about the enchantment of nine boys taught nothing but to hunt for stags. Consequently they turn into stags themselves, never to return to man’s imperfect world. Both the Slovak folk songs arranged for chorus, as well as the eight choruses include references deploring idle existence. The latter group are originally written by Bartók. The Viola Concerto, left in the form of first sketches when the composer died, is recorded here by the artist for whom the concerto was written; the orchestra is conducted by Tibor Serly, the composer’s friend, who did the first realization of the work from the sketches.