To get an idea of how thoroughly Marin Alsop has studied the composer's style, check out the fourth of the Hungarian Pictures (it's title translated here as "Slightly Tipsy"). She has the orchestra playing this music with the same kind of erratic, lurch rhythm the composer used in his own piano recording, a comic effect which is difficult to reproduce in an orchestra. The performance of The Miraculous Mandarin offers the complete ballet, with it's breathtaking choral finale, not just the more commonly heard suite. Alsop gets the orchestra to play with powerful rhythmic drive (equally true in the exciting Dance Suite) and a great deal of color. Some of the power is dissipated by slightly diffuse recording, but it's still a pleasure to hear this wonderful music played with such conviction and fine style.
