Top 5 Favorite Bartók Works

[Sergeant Rock]

Kossuth
Concerto for Orchestra
Two Portraits op.5
Piano Concerto No.3
String Quartet No.6

[Drasko]

Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
Piano Sonata
Piano Concerto No. 1
Miraculous Mandarin

[Ken B]

S2PP
MSPC
Mikrokosmos
DBC
PC2

[NorthNYMark]

S2PP
MSPC
Mikrokosmos
DBC
PC2

DBC?

[Ken B]

DBC?

Quite right, my omission.

DB'sC



(Duke Bluebeard's Castle)

[NorthNYMark]

Quite right, my omission.

DB'sC



(Duke Bluebeard's Castle)

Ah! I think the version I have just lists it as Bluebeard's Castle, so I didn't think of that. I was wondering if there was a double bass concerto I didn't know about.   

[Trout]

Bluebeard's Castle
Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
Piano Concerto No. 1
String Quartet No. 4
String Quartet No. 6

[NJ Joe]

Oh my, this is a tough one!

Concerto for Orchestra
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
String Quartet No. 4
The Miraculous Mandarin
The Wooden Prince

[Mr Bloom]

Violin sonata 1
Sonata for two pianos and percussion
String Quartet No. 3
String Quartet No. 4
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

I like the concertos, but I think Bartok is nowhere as good as in his chamber music.

[jochanaan]

Piano Concerto No. 1

I think we must be in a minority, we who refer PC #1 over #2 and #3.  They're all great, but there's just something about that extraordinary First.  Love the percussion in the second movement!

[NorthNYMark]

I think we must be in a minority, we who refer PC #1 over #2 and #3.  They're all great, but there's just something about that extraordinary First.  Love the percussion in the second movement!

I agree entirely!

[Mirror Image]

I think we must be in a minority, we who refer PC #1 over #2 and #3.  They're all great, but there's just something about that extraordinary First.  Love the percussion in the second movement!

I think they're all fantastic concerti, but Piano Concerto No. 3 moves me on a deeper emotional level than the others. The second movement of the 3rd, Adagio religioso, has a beauty to it that if I'm caught in a certain mood will trigger something inside of me and I'll just break out in tears. When music means this much to you, it doesn't matter whether you're in the minority or the majority, you simply have touched on something that's beyond our realm of understanding.

[Mandryka]

Solo violin sonata (it was Leila Josefowitcz's performance which helped me to appreciate this)
Mikrokosmos bks 5 and 6
Quartet 4
Quartet 5 (it was the Zehetmair Quartet's performance which made helped me to appreciate this.)
3rd  etude for piano (it was Jerome Lowenthal's performance which helped me to appreciate this.)

[RebLem]

Bluebeard's Castle
The Wooden Prince
Kossuth
Piano Concerto 1
Violin Concerto 2 (1938)

[NJ Joe]

Concerto for Orchestra
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
String Quartet No. 4
The Miraculous Mandarin
The Wooden Prince

In honor of the resurrection of this thread, here's another 5:

Dance Suite
Piano Concerto 1
Violin Concerto 2
Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
String Quartet 5

[Mirror Image]

I think I'll just add that I absolutely hate the "suite version", it completely destroys the flow of the original ballet 

I wouldn't say I 'hate' it per se, but I do feel that the complete ballet is always the way to go, especially for that eerie chorus.

[NJ Joe]

I wouldn't say I 'hate' it per se, but I do feel that the complete ballet is always the way to go, especially for that eerie chorus.

I listened to this earlier today, and yes, that chorus is eerie!

[Mirror Image]

I listened to this earlier today, and yes, that chorus is eerie!

Indeed. Bartok just looks like someone you'd expect to reveal his fangs at any second.

[James]

Where to start? Hahaha

The 6 SQs. Perhaps knock off the 1st SQ for the sake of the thread restriction .. and you get a very clear representation of a total musical genius in full flower.

There, done.

Obviously there is A LOT more!!!

He was truly "GREAT".

[Dancing Divertimentian]

The 6 SQs.

That's not too far-fetched...