This performance of Bartok's most sumptuous and self-indulgent orchestral score is every bit as enjoyably extravagant as I remembered it from its first appearance. Anyone who still expects Boulez to be wooden or schoolmasterly in romantic music should hear it. The remixed recording conveys every shade of instrumental colour. Maybe even clearer definition of detail without loss of immediacy would be possible today, but it is hard to imagine an account of the complete ballet (most conductors prefer the suite) having greater conviction than this one.
Boulez's recording of the Dance Suite, coupled on LP with The Miraculous Mandarin, is lively and well-proportioned, though without the relish for its touches of grotesque humour that distinguishes Solti's reading for Decca, coupled with the Concerto for Orchestra. Nowak's performance elicited different reactions from its initial LP and CD reviewers, though both agreed that the main work on the ASV disc, the two Daphnis et Chloe suites, was disappointing. Even if Solti is to be preferred in the Dance Suite, however, the Boulez disc has my strong recommendation.'