Béla Bartók (1881-1945)

[Symphonic Addict]

Was listening to Bartók's Piano Quartet in C minor (1898) from this recording. Yes, he wrote one, and what mastery and energy it displays. Despite it sounds heavily Brahmsian, I consider it one of his early masterpieces, the quality of the music is undeniable, and I can't imagine a more passionate and committed performance than this.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Was listening to Bartók's Piano Quartet in C minor (1898) from this recording. Yes, he wrote one, and what mastery and energy it displays. Despite it sounds heavily Brahmsian, I consider it one of his early masterpieces, the quality of the music is undeniable, and I can't imagine a more passionate and committed performance than this.

I haven't heard of that quartet before now.  Have you heard any other recordings by them?

PD

[pjme]

I haven't heard of that quartet before now.  Have you heard any other recordings by them?

I read that it is their debut album. So, we will have to wait for a disc with more" meat"....

[Jo498]

They apparently have by now two more discs out, one with Brahms' op.25 g minor and an arrangement of his 3rd symphony! and one with Lajtha, Francaix and Tansman, see below:
I only have the "hungarian" disc and agree that it is a very worthwhile discovery. I at first didn't realize that the Dohnanyi is also an early hardly known work (I first thought it was one of his *quintets" that are of course reasonably well known and have been recorded several times)

https://www.jpc.de/s/notos+quartett

[Pohjolas Daughter]

They apparently have by now two more discs out, one with Brahms' op.25 g minor and an arrangement of his 3rd symphony! and one with Lajtha, Francaix and Tansman, see below:
I only have the "hungarian" disc and agree that it is a very worthwhile discovery. I at first didn't realize that the Dohnanyi is also an early hardly known work (I first thought it was one of his *quintets" that are of course reasonably well known and have been recorded several times)

https://www.jpc.de/s/notos+quartett

Thanks for the info. 

PD

[atardecer]

Schiff on Bartók, also with interesting points relating to music interpretation in general.

[brewski]

On Feb. 2, the Kosmos Bartók festival opens with this live concert from the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, conductor Alan Gilbert, and pianist Igor Levit in the all-Bartók program below. Alas, I'll be unable to catch the livestream, but they often archive their concerts.

Bartók
Divertimento for String Orchestra
Piano Concerto No. 3
Concerto for Orchestra

-Bruce

[brewski]

On Saturday night, Feb. 10 at 8:00 pm, the Boston Symphony Orchestra will broadcast this concert below live. Encore broadcast will be on Monday, Feb. 19.

Karina Canellakis, conductor
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano
Nathan Berg, bass-baritone
Jeremiah Kissel, narrator

Haydn: Cello Concerto in C
Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle

-Bruce

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Just listened to Bartók's solo violin sonata with Isabelle Faust.  Reading through the booklet, I noticed that it was the last work that Bartók wrote before his death.  It was a commission by Yehudi Menuhin with YM publishing it posthumously.  Apparently, according to the author of the booklet, that his edition did not include the microtones the composer intended for the Presto.

I know that Peter Bartók later created an Urtext of the work; was he able to find out what his father had in mind?

[Luke]

Menuhin worked with Bartok on the piece, and wrote in his autobiography that the composer wanted the microtones. I've attached a screenshot. The two editions on IMSLP show

a) the first edition, the main line as microtonal, the semitonal version as an ossia
b) the Soviet edition, which only shows the semitonal (presumably the microtones were deemed unSoviet or something)

I've attached a screenshot of that too.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Menuhin worked with Bartok on the piece, and wrote in his autobiography that the composer wanted the microtones. I've attached a screenshot. The two editions on IMSLP show

a) the first edition, the main line as microtonal, the semitonal version as an ossia
b) the Soviet edition, which only shows the semitonal (presumably the microtones were deemed unSoviet or something)

I've attached a screenshot of that too.

Thank you! 

[lordlance]

A new string orchestra arrangement of the Third String Quartet -

[Brian]

I'm reading over an advance proof of the composer Samuel Adler's new memoir and, among so many other moments where he happened to be at major events in music history, he relates this story:

"One of my most vivid memories is of my father and me taking a bus to Boston in early December 1944 for the Sunday afternoon series of first performances of Bela Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra. I remember being completely enchanted by the piece, or, as we would say today, blown away by it. After the performance, I rushed backstage to get Bartók's autograph. He was already very sick at the time and had only a short while to live. He sat in a chair quite slumped over. There were several dozen people in the Green Room, many of whom were critics or other newspaper people. Koussevitzky came into the room sweating profusely and quite energized since the work was hard for him to conduct and a real achievement. He addressed the crowd by pointing to Bartók and saying: "There sits the greatest composer in the world." Without waiting for another word, Bartók looked up at the conductor and said: "Serge, I thought last week you said that the greatest composer in the world was Prokofiev!""

[kyjo]

Bartók's earlier works (let's say, pre-Bluebeard's Castle), generally late-romantic in style, are seldom performed or discussed but they are of quite high quality IMO. I'm thinking specifically of the Orchestral Suite No. 2, Op. 4 (1905-07) which I discovered recently on this fine recording:



Certainly, the music here doesn't have the often abrasive dissonance of Bartók's later works, but there are premonitions of his mature style in the sophisticated treatment of Hungarian folk music. There are also colorful suggestions of Impressionism along the way, and the orchestration is effective and finely judged. I'm looking forward to hearing the Orchestral Suite No. 1 which I don't know yet. (Maybe if these works had more appealing titles they'd be played more often...?)

[Brian]

Bartók's earlier works (let's say, pre-Bluebeard's Castle), generally late-romantic in style, are seldom performed or discussed but they are of quite high quality IMO. I'm thinking specifically of the Orchestral Suite No. 2, Op. 4 (1905-07) which I discovered recently on this fine recording:



Certainly, the music here doesn't have the often abrasive dissonance of Bartók's later works, but there are premonitions of his mature style in the sophisticated treatment of Hungarian folk music. There are also colorful suggestions of Impressionism along the way, and the orchestration is effective and finely judged. I'm looking forward to hearing the Orchestral Suite No. 1 which I don't know yet. (Maybe if these works had more appealing titles they'd be played more often...?)

I think Dorati recorded all this music for Mercury Living Presence but that Kocsis program, putting a lot of the youthful/populist folk-inspired music on one album, is a very clever idea. I am going to have to pull that up and listen tomorrow!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Bartók's earlier works (let's say, pre-Bluebeard's Castle), generally late-romantic in style, are seldom performed or discussed but they are of quite high quality IMO. I'm thinking specifically of the Orchestral Suite No. 2, Op. 4 (1905-07) which I discovered recently on this fine recording:



Certainly, the music here doesn't have the often abrasive dissonance of Bartók's later works, but there are premonitions of his mature style in the sophisticated treatment of Hungarian folk music. There are also colorful suggestions of Impressionism along the way, and the orchestration is effective and finely judged. I'm looking forward to hearing the Orchestral Suite No. 1 which I don't know yet. (Maybe if these works had more appealing titles they'd be played more often...?)

I think the Suite No. 2 sounds better than the Suite No. 1.

[Le Buisson Ardent]

The Kocsis conducted series on Hungaroton is fantastic all-around. It's a shame he wasn't able to complete the series.