#231 The Smell of Hovering

The music bridles, calms down, and assails again. Flexible, fluid, suggestive, like a piece of cloth hovering in the water.

The orchestra sound is very colorful and attentive. A fine, loving recording.

Composer: Béla Bartók
Work: The Miraculous Mandarin, III. Second seduction game: the young student
Recording: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop

#147 The Smell of Caprice

First, there's innocence. Then, duality and attack. Exhaustion of love. Humpiness of anger. Attempts of reaching out. Mockery, humiliation. So many caprices in one movement!

This recording has a firm and solid leading from both the conductor and the soloist. Across all the moods, there's constant inner shining in it.

Composer: Béla Bartók
Work: Violin Concerto No 2, II. Andante tranquillo
Recording: André Gertler, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ančerl

#125 The Smell of Dripping Water

Drip, drip, drip... and the level goes up. Drip, drip, drip... nowhere to go, the music explodes. Drip, drip–and the next one is not coming, tension and expectation. And then: drip! Another explosion!

Chung and Solti are ideal pair for Bartók. Expressive, emotional recording.

Composer: Béla Bartók
Work: Violin Concerto No 2, I. Allegro non troppo
Recording: Kyung Wha Chung, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti

#80 The Smell of Mystery

Bartók, that's not just sturdy peasant rhythms and folk songs. The first movement of his concerto for orchestra is a wonderful, complex, and mysterious erection. Here you can wander from room to room and they're all different. You don't want to go but you're dragged into the journey anyway. Here: too much sunshine. Here: too many recollections. More, more, keep going!

Dudamel accents the melancholy and irreversibility (but how ferocious he is later in the third movement!). LAP is on the hunt for beauty. Its rich sound is fetching and abstract at once. At the end of the movement, you should have tears in your eyes.

Composer: Béla Bartók
Work: Concerto for Orchestra, I. Introduction: Allegro non troppo
Recording: Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel