Bartok and Kodaly - SCO - Sunday Telegraph

The combination of Mackerras's insights into East European music, his close rapport with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the superb expertise of the Linn recording makes this an outstanding disc. the performance of Kodály's Dances has captivating brio, but it is the performance of Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste that makes the disc so desirable. The clarity of the recording enables us to savour to the full Bartók's careful division of the strings into two groups.

Mackerras uses a smaller orchestra, sanctioned by Bartók in 1936, each string group containing 17 players. The wonderful performance of the opening andante made me wonder if this movement had influenced Vaughan Williams in the finale of his Sixth Symphony. The folk-dance rhythms of the second and fourth movements find the SCO in sparkling form and they play evocatively in the 'night music' of the adagio. The third work on the disc is the later (1940) and less demanding Divertimento, which also receives a fine performance.