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In comparison with Bartók's other two stage works, the opera Bluebeard's Castle and the ballet The Miraculous Mandarin, the score that came between them, The Wooden Prince, composed between 1914 and 1916, is heard much less often. Recordings have always been thin on the ground too - and that makes the performance with which Marin Alsop rounds off her survey of Bartók's dramatic works for Naxos the most valuable of the three. Even if the competition were stronger, though, Alsop's performance would still be well worth acquiring. Bartok rather quaintly called The Wooden Prince "a dancing play in one act"; with a fairy-tale scenario by Béla Balázs, the librettist of Bluebeard. The quality of the score is variable - less radical than Miraculous Mandarin but still showing the influence of Stravinsky and Debussy as well as that of Richard Strauss - but the best is glorious.

--Review by Andrew Clements, The Guardian,  Friday March 28, 2008

Filled with magic and ambiguity, Bartók's neglected fairytale ballet, completed in 1916, proves fruitful material for Marin Alsop's baton. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra tuck into its multiple riches, from the dawn opening to the Hungarian rhythms. One star is lost through the recording acoustic: this score deserves depth and bloom, not claustrophobia. Not to be sniffed at, even so, given the repertoire and Alsop's flair.

--Review by Geoff Brown, The Times, February 29, 2008

The story behind Bela BartOk s symbolist opera Bluebeard Castle makes for uncomfortable reading, and stage performances always leave audiences asking as many questions as are answered. Not least is the question of Bluebeard s former wives, alive but imprisoned, and joined at the end of the opera by his latest, the overinquisitive inquisitive Judith. This concert staging, with Andrea Melath as the latest Mrs B and Gustov Belacek as the uncomforting bridegroom, still manages to thrill: the revelation of the different doors opened at Judith s request, each more disquieting than the former, is strikingly portrayed in this high quality performance.

Download this: This Is Bluebeard s Castle!

--Review by AB, Scotland on Sunday, February 3, 2008

This Naxos disc may or may not contain the greatest recording of Bartók's "Bluebeard's Castle" ever made, but while it's playing, you'll wholeheartedly believe that it is. Naturally, in a one-act opera featuring only two singers, the quality of the soloists is critical, and in bass Gustáv Belácek and soprano Andrea Meláth, this recording has two wonderfully lyrical singers who really grasp the psychological depths of Bluebeard and his wife Judith. But more important for the overall success of the performance is the quality of the conductor and orchestra, and in Marin Alsop and the Bournemouth, this recording has a conductor and orchestra at the very peak of their form. Alsop's leadership is intensely dramatic, but never bombastic, and the Bournemouth plays as if the fate of humanity hangs on the passion of the performance. Recorded in all-enveloping sound at The Concert Hall in Poole in May 2007, the digital sound here rivals the best of the so-called major labels. Though many listeners will retain their attachment to the Kertész, Solti, or even the Boulez recordings, those who love Bartók's operatic masterpiece will welcome this recording with open arms.

--Review by James Leonard, All Music Guide, February 2008

Judith's scream at the opening of the fifth door in Bluebeard must be among the most chilling moments in all opera. But then - at one level - Béla Balázs's libretto is all about a wife discovering her husband's hidden violence. It's also a remarkably compact work that responds well to different interpretations. The classic Kertész recording with Christa Ludwig and Walter Berry is gripping from start to finish (remastered on Decca Legends 466 3772), but for me the Haitink disc with with Anne Sofie von Otter and John Tomlinson remains the benchmark. Vividly recorded and gloriously sung it is also unerringly paced (EMI 56162).

So how does Alsop's Bournemouth performance stack up? Surprisingly well, as it happens, but those who prefer their Bartók red in tooth and claw may find this recording a little tame. Persevere, though, because although Alsop's reading sounds more intimate and chamber-like than usual it has a compelling dramatic logic that holds your attention all the way through.

The Bournemouth band play well for Alsop who is bound to be missed in Poole, now that she's taken up her post in Baltimore. The somewhat recessed soundstage suits the conductor's more low-key approach to the score. That said the C major chords for full orchestra and the fortissimo organ entry at the fifth door are thrillingly caught, though for sheer tingle the EMI recording is hard to beat.

The singing is similarly deceptive. Andrea Meláth's Judith sounds much more girlish and vulnerable than usual but she clearly understands this role and sings it with a pleasing, secure tone. Even the vocal demands of the infamous fifth door hold no terrors for her. While the Slovak bass Gustáv Beláček is perhaps less commanding than Tomlinson one could argue that his outward charm makes Judith's wifely compliance - 'I'll warm the cold stone ... I'll warm it with my body' - that much easier to understand.

Bartók's colourful but unnerving orchestration sounds a little veiled when compared with the more lucid EMI recording, where the Berliner Philharmoniker bring out - or should one say wring out - every last detail of the score. Predictably all those Bartókian touches - the solo trumpet and woodwind trills at the Armoury (door two) and the harp glissandi, tremolo strings and solo horn that reveal the Garden behind door four - are superbly realised. The real surprise for me is that Haitink, not normally a conductor I warm to, has a solid grasp of the work's dramatic structure and conveys a growing sense of unease that Alsop, for all her strengths, can't quite match.

It all comes down to a difference of emphasis, really, but such is the score's hypnotic power that it rarely fails to entrance the listener. Naxos have produced a robust and intelligent Bluebeard that is well worth hearing, not least for its idiomatic singing. The recording is commendably warm and atmospheric, even if it lacks that last ounce of immediacy. A basic synopsis and background notes are included and the disc is generously cued.

Whether you're new to Bluebeard or you already have the Kertész and/or the Haitink this outwardly rather restrained performance burns with a slow, steady flame that is impossible to ignore. A fitting climax to Alsop's tenure with the BSO and an absolute bargain to boot.

--Review by Dan Morgan, Musicweb International, January 2008

"Yet another 20th century opera comes from naxos, with Marin Alsop directing Bluebeard Castle, recorded after a highly praised concert performance. The soloists are mid-European, but the Naxos booklet has a synopsis of plot but no text. Nevertheless, the orchestral climax still brings a tingle to the spine."

--Review by Peter Spaull, Liverpool Daily Post, November 30, 2007

Marin Alsop's tenure at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra goes from strength to strength, notably in their ongoing relationship with Naxos. The latest CD to appear is a stirring recording of Bartók's one-act opera Bluebeard's Castle. This was Bartók's first and only opera, its horrifying theme given greater resonance by its composition in the shadow of war-ravaged Europe. The orchestral score, with its kaleidoscopic mood swings, receives a treatment both fearsome and sumptuous. The shattering climaxes that greet the opening of the mysterious doors are thrilling, Alsop pacing the dramatic build-ups with crushing impact. Add to that the intensity of two top-notch soloists - the Hungarian mezzo-soprano Andrea Meláth and Slovakian bass Gustáv Belácek - and a formidable team is complete. Sung in Hungarian, this version ranks among the best available of this remarkable work. --Review by Kenneth Walton, The Scotsman, December 21, 2007

Marin Alsop's recording of Bluebeard's Castle was taped in Poole earlier this year, following a concert performance that was widely regarded as one of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's finest recent achievements. Few could doubt the quality of the playing, which is immaculate throughout. Those who see the opera primarily in expressionistic terms, however, may well be fazed by Alsop's strikingly un-neurotic interpretation. This is more a reflection on the sadness surrounding marital breakdown than an examination of the psychological conflict that precipitates it. Gustav Belacek and Andrea Meláth, as Bluebeard and Judith, avoid the usual angst-ridden sparring in favour of a low-key portrait of an unhappy couple. It makes up in compassion for what it lacks in tension, and is never less than moving. But if you want a more hard-hitting experience, then the nerve-racking anguish of István Kertész's 1965 Decca recording or the more subtle terrors of Iván Fischer's version for Phillips are to be preferred.

--Review by Tim Ashley, The Guardian, December 14, 2007

Yet another 20th century opera comes from naxos, with Marin Alsop directing Bluebeard Castle, recorded after a highly praised concert performance. The soloists are mid-European, but the Naxos booklet has a synopsis of plot but no text. Nevertheless, the orchestral climax still brings a tingle to the spine.

--Review by Peter Spaull, Liverpool Daily Post, November 30, 2007

Bartok demanded huge forces for his dark, satanic opera about the much-married toff of European folklore. He certainly gets them in this powerhouse performance from the Bournemouth Symphony and its versatile American conductor, Marin Alsop, ensuring maximum contrast between the colossal climax when Judith opens that fifth door. With fine soloists singing Hungarian, this disc suggests a marriage between the Bournemouth and the feisty Alsop to put old Bluebeard to shame.

--Review by AH, The Observer, November 25, 2007

Alsop and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra prove worthy interpreters of Bartók's psycho-drama. Alsop bathes the score in an impressionist glow, dark and glistening. She gives her excellent soloists, Gustáv Belácek and Andrea Meláth, ample room to define the drama, while tightening the screws where appropriate, making for a suitable chilling climax. A bargain at £5.99.

--Review by Financial Times, November 10, 2007