Charles Mackerras is such a musical conductor that you can always count on his performances giving satisfaction, and these largely do. That said, when this disc was originally issued I noted that they still aren’t quite the best, and I see no reason to alter that opinion. The Kodály dances go very well indeed, with plenty of energy and a keen sense of rhythm, particularly in the work’s exciting latter stages. But I miss the rich string textures the music seems to want; and how much more appealing it would be if the winds had more personality–a fruitier timbre from the clarinets, for example. All of these qualities are very much in evidence in, say, Ormandy’s Philadelphia recording on Sony Essential Classics, though of course you won’t get LINN’s generally excellent multichannel sonics (a bit dry on the bottom).
In the Bartók works, the plusses and minuses turn out to be much the same. The Divertimento goes well, as it almost always does, but the performance lacks the earthiness of Harnoncourt’s recent version for RCA. In the Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, the opening movement needs a touch more intensity and heft at the climaxes and the second movement could use more savagery, but the atmospheric slow movement and impulsive finale show Mackerras and his players at their very best. I also note in this work that, despite the fine sound and care taken to achieve the correct stereophonic separation of the two string orchestras, the group on the left sounds a bit stronger than the players on the right.
Don’t get me wrong: these are very solid performances, and those looking for these works in multichannel format need not hesitate. But the competition in this repertoire is very strong. Direct comparison with the aforementioned Harnoncourt (for example), or Fischer (Philips/Eloquence) in MSPC, reveals marginally better playing and interpretations with just that much more personality.