George Barati (1913-1996)

[Scion7]

As a young man:


A very detailed biography with interviews may be found at:  http://escholarship.org/uc/item/5zs7n9hv#page-1

Sadly, my edition of The Grove has no entry for him - this oversight needs to be corrected ASAP.

The Hungarian-born American cellist, conductor, and composer, George Barati, (real name, Gyorgy Braunstein), got initial training at the Györ Music School (graduated, 1932). Then he studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest (graduated, 1935; teacher's diploma, 1937; artist diploma, 1938). From 1933 to 1936 he was a member of the Budapest Concert Orchestra, where he played under the most celebrated conductors of his era. He was a founding member and cellist of the Pro Ideale Quartet (later Westminster) (1936-1939), and studied or performed with Béla Bartók, Dohnanyi, and other eminent faculty members at the Liszt Conservatory. While still a student he became first cellist of Budapest Symphony Orchestra and Municipal Opera orchestra (1936-1938).

Because he was a Jew, in 1939 George Barati emigrated to the USA, becoming a naturalized American citizen in 1944.

From his obit:

George Barati, 83, Composer, Conductor, Cellist and Teacher
By ALLAN KOZINN
Published: July 1, 1996

     George Barati, a Hungarian-born composer, conductor and cellist who came to the United States in 1938 and played in a faculty string quartet with Albert Einstein at Princeton University, died on June 22 at the Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, Calif. He was 83 and lived in Soquel, Calif.
     Mr. Barati had been found unconscious with severe head injuries (initially thought to be from a fall - now thought to be an act of foul play by an unknown assailant) in downtown Los Gatos, Calif., on June 11, and had been unconscious since then, said a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County Coroner's Office.
     He also conducted several local ensembles in Princeton, as well as military orchestras during his Army service, from 1943 to 1945. In 1946, he joined the cello section of the San Francisco Symphony, for which he also conducted in 1948 and 1949. He left the orchestra in 1950, when he was appointed music director of the Honolulu Symphony, a post he held until 1967.  During the 1970's, Mr. Barati was music director of the Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestra in California. He also toured as a guest conductor, and composed more than 50 symphonic works, concertos and chamber pieces.


His influences included Kodaly and Bartok - and he utilized the 12-tone system of Schonberg in some pieces; additionally, Polynesian music had an impact on him to a small degree.

Barati's music has elicited praise. The San Francisco Chronicle called his Chamber Concerto, "one of the most inventive, adroit, colorful and stimulating pieces to be produced in San Francisco in recent years." Time magazine found his String Quartet No.1 "consistently thoughtful, occasionally warm, once or twice fiery in a moderately dissonant idiom." About his Cello Concerto The New York Times stated: "The harmonies are strongly dissonant, although basically tonal. What seems to be a major virtue of Barati's style, however, is the strong rhythmic drive."
After a performance of the Harpsichord Quartet in Baltimore, the Baltimore Sun wrote: "There was also in it something impressionistic in its skillful exploitation of the instruments' coloristic potentialities. Although eclectic, Barati's quartet is also highly individual music, especially interesting for its wide skips of melody and its repeated short rhythmic patterns."



Gathering a works list will be difficult - he composed much.

[Scion7]

a short list:

Orchestral/concertos

Two Symphonic Movements for orchestra;
Scherzo for orchestra; Configuration for orchestra (1947); Chamber Concerto for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and string orchestra (1952); Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1953, rev.1957); The Dragon and the Phoenix for orchestra (1960); Symphony No.1 'Alpine' (1963);  Polarization for orchestra (1964); Baroque Quartet Concerto for flute, oboe, harpsichord, double bass and orchestra (1968); Piano Concerto; Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra; Confluence for orchestra; Violin Concerto; Serenata Capricciosa for chamber orchestra; Chant of Darkness (1993); Seachange; Chant of Light (1995)

Chamber music

Fantaisie pour 4 violoncellos; String Quartet No.1 (1944); Woodwind Quintet; String Quartet No.2; Harpsichord Quartet for flute, oboe, harpsichord, and double bass (1964); Hawaiian Forests for seven instruments; Indiana Triptych for flute, oboe, viola, and piano (1983); A Chant to Pele (1984); Trio for clarinet, violin, and cello (1988); String Quartet No. 3; Seachange for flute, clarinet & strings; String Quartet No. 4; Sonata for Violin and Piano (1956)