Bartok: The Miraculous Mandarin

Featuring

Thomas Dausgaard
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Béla Bartók

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Bartók's Second Suite, originally conceived as a Serenade for small orchestra, was where he first wove folk elements into his musical language.

Composer Biography

Béla Bartók, the composer, contracted the Spanish flu in October 1918 but survived, unlike millions of others.

Critical Reception

The Miraculous Mandarin was considered so "offensively realistic" that it was censored and cut for its Budapest premiere.

Composer Biography

Bartók was spared from military service in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I after failing several medical examinations.

Recording & Production

This recording of The Miraculous Mandarin uses a recently discovered original score, allowing listeners to hear the work without the censored cuts from its premiere.

Composition History

Bartók began sketching ideas for The Miraculous Mandarin in late summer 1917, developing its scenario from a libretto by Hungarian author Menyhért Lengyel.

Historical Context

Bartók's Miraculous Mandarin channels the violence and horror of the collapse of the first Hungarian Soviet Republic and the subsequent Red and White Terrors of 1919-21.