Béla Bartók (1881-1945)

Started by facehugger, April 06, 2007, 02:41:35 PM

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Brahmsian

Greatly enjoying my first ever listen to these works!

44 Duos for two violins, BB104

Sarah and Deborah Nemtanu, violins

Sonata for Solo Violin, BB124

Viktoria Mullova, violin

Decca






Mirror Image

Quote from: OrchestralNut on May 03, 2021, 10:43:47 AM
Greatly enjoying my first ever listen to these works!

44 Duos for two violins, BB104

Sarah and Deborah Nemtanu, violins

Sonata for Solo Violin, BB124

Viktoria Mullova, violin

Decca



Yep, great stuff, Ray!

bhodges

This looks most interesting:

"The English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) complete their first year of Music from Wyastone virtual concerts with a concert performance of Béla Bartók's one-act opera, Duke Bluebeard's Castle, written in 1911. The performance, which premieres on ESO Digital at 7:30pm on Friday 13 August, marks the first performance of a new arrangement of the opera, for 25 performers including organ, by the ESO's Assistant Conductor, Michael Karcher-Young, and Australian conductor and arranger, Chris van Tuinen. The work is sung in Hungarian and English subtitles are provided."

English Symphony Orchestra
Kenneth Woods, Conductor
April Fredrick, Judith / David Stout, Bluebeard

http://www.colinscolumn.com/bartoks-opera-bluebeards-castle-english-symphony-orchestra-perform-new-chamber-version-free-digital-concert-available-from-13-august/

--Bruce

bhodges

"One of the most welcome distractions of 2021 has been the Tesla Quartet's exploration of Bartók's magnificent contributions to the genre."

In the September issue of The Strad, my article on the quartet and their Bartók journey (all on YouTube) that included interviews, rehearsals, and performances.

https://www.thestrad.com/reviews/live-streamed-concert-review-tesla-quartet-a-bartok-journey/13376.article

--Bruce

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Brewski on August 25, 2021, 07:42:46 AM
"One of the most welcome distractions of 2021 has been the Tesla Quartet's exploration of Bartók's magnificent contributions to the genre."

In the September issue of The Strad, my article on the quartet and their Bartók journey (all on YouTube) that included interviews, rehearsals, and performances.

https://www.thestrad.com/reviews/live-streamed-concert-review-tesla-quartet-a-bartok-journey/13376.article

--Bruce
Oh, cool!  I look forward to watching those!  Question:  So is Károly Schranz one of the members of Tesla?  Or was he one of the people with whom the group spoke to about the quartets?  Or something else?

You had written:  "In comments about the Fifth, Károly Schranz – founding second violinist of the Takács Quartet – mentioned going to Banff in 1981. There he studied Bartók with Zoltán Székely, violinist of the Hungarian Quartet, whose bragging rights included working directly with the composer."

PD

p.s.  Been visiting (sometimes revisiting) some of the Bartok recordings that I have these past few days.  :)
Pohjolas Daughter

bhodges

First, thanks for reading! I am never sure who reads these things, and I'm grateful to be writing for the magazine, given a) the state of music journalism, and b) the state of print publications.

And no, Schranz is actually now in Boulder, Colorado, teaching at the University of Colorado. The Tesla members interviewed him, given his unique point of view.

What are some of the recordings you've been listening to? (As far as CDs of the quartets, I think the only complete set I have is by the Emerson's. It's a good set, but obviously there are many others these days.)

--Bruce

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Brewski on August 25, 2021, 09:20:43 AM
First, thanks for reading! I am never sure who reads these things, and I'm grateful to be writing for the magazine, given a) the state of music journalism, and b) the state of print publications.

And no, Schranz is actually now in Boulder, Colorado, teaching at the University of Colorado. The Tesla members interviewed him, given his unique point of view.

What are some of the recordings you've been listening to? (As far as CDs of the quartets, I think the only complete set I have is by the Emerson's. It's a good set, but obviously there are many others these days.)

--Bruce
Well, thanks for writing!  :)

The first recording of his string quartets that I purchased was with the Takacs Quartet.  I found one used (not terribly long ago) with the Keller Quartet (but haven't listened to it yet to be honest).

In terms of recent listening:  today--his Concerto Pour Alto on Calliope with Vladimir Bukac, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra and Valek.  Yesterday or the day before:  his Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 with André Gertler and Diane Anderson on Supraphon (4-CD box set of Bartok's violin works).

By the way, I tried the link from that review and it didn't work.  I was able to find the quartets, practices and interviews/discussion on youtube though.  Hard to figure out the order that they were done though.   ::)  Good ole youtube!  ;)

Best wishes,

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

bhodges

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on August 25, 2021, 09:56:44 AM
In terms of recent listening:  today--his Concerto Pour Alto on Calliope with Vladimir Bukac, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra and Valek.  Yesterday or the day before:  his Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 with André Gertler and Diane Anderson on Supraphon (4-CD box set of Bartok's violin works).


Ah, thanks. Not familiar with any of those! Nice to have so many choices, and the Gertler/Anderson sounds like something I should seek out.

(And sorry for the link not working. I just write, I don't format! But glad you found the stuff, anyway.)

--Bruce

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Brewski on August 25, 2021, 10:14:00 AM
Ah, thanks. Not familiar with any of those! Nice to have so many choices, and the Gertler/Anderson sounds like something I should seek out.

(And sorry for the link not working. I just write, I don't format! But glad you found the stuff, anyway.)

--Bruce
The Gertler set is quite special.  You can read more about him/it here:  https://www.supraphon.com/album/245-bartok-violin-works-complete

Best,

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

Back on a (probably minor) Bartok bent:

Speaking of which, does anyone here have suggestions for good books on Bartok's life?

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on December 07, 2021, 08:19:40 AM
Back on a (probably minor) Bartok bent:

Speaking of which, does anyone here have suggestions for good books on Bartok's life?

PD
Any suggestions?

I stumbled across this article today.  Wondering how things have gone since then?  https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/23/nyregion/22-year-battle-by-son-of-bartok-over-estate-is-nearing-decision.html

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Scion7

When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

krummholz

Quote from: Scion7 on March 21, 2022, 05:40:26 AM
Bartok in America  article, by H. Stevens  ç1963

https://www.mediafire.com/file/if75w4fjy5ykuba/Bartok_in_America.pdf/file

Interesting! Oddly, there seems to be no mention of the month that he and Ditta spent in the summer of 1941 in central Vermont, in a cottage owned by a Hungarian-born woman named Agatha Illes. I'll try to attach a document I have that discusses the circumstances of his sojourn and has a brief description of Bartok himself (including a photo of him sitting on the balcony). It appears that his final illness was still in its very early stages and he was still fairly active. A brief quote from the document:

QuoteHis naturally taciturn character, homesickness, worry over the war, and the onset of his terminal illness (leukemia) which was not yet diagnosed, made Bartók perhaps a finicky guest. He was a shy man, aloof, quiet, serious, uncompromising, of impenetrable character, a lover of nature and the honest peasant way of life, and a disciplined self- reliant composer. His son Peter says, "When not sleeping, talking to a visitor, having a meal, taking a walk, etc., he knew of no activity other than work."[29] In Vermont that summer of 1941 Bartók worked diligently on preparing his now famous Rumanian folk music collection for publication.[30]

There are a couple of pages devoted to his stay there. The cottage where he stayed no longer exists and is now part of a state forest, but I know the road that it was situated off of quite well, as it is a major connecting route between the valley I live in (the Dog River valley) and the shopping areas and medical facilities on "the hill" in what is now Berlin, VT.

Well, I can't attach it, so I'll upload it to my Google Drive and include the link. 500 KB limit? Seems a bit stingy...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13I3yWSr8itDv_hG4qOqLrmSYFiPk4XJE/view?usp=sharing

Mirror Image

#554


I've been going through the Warner Classics set The Hungarian Soul and I have to say I'm hugely impressed with it more so than Hurwitz who did a video review on it:

https://www.youtube.com/v/Cr2S69EWV_w

While the Warner catalogue isn't star-studded with well-known Bartók performances a la Reiner, Boulez, Solti, Fischer, Kocsis et. al., it still provides much pleasure and discovery for the listener. Some of the Hurwitz biases rear their ugly head in this particular review. He mentioned that the performances of The Miraculous Mandarin and Dance Suite with Franz Welser-Möst and the LPO weren't any good and I disagree. These were actually excellent performances that were somewhat letdown by the recessed audio quality, but he smoked both of these works and played with the necessary fire and spontaneity. I haven't gone through the whole set, but I am familiar with several of these performances already as I own them in single issues like Haitink's Bluebeard's Castle (w/ Anne Sofie von Otter and John Tomlinson) and the SQ cycle with the Alban Berg Quartett.

Anyway, I'm thrilled by this set and it sits along rather nicely with my other box sets on Decca and Hungaroton. A worthy addition to the collection indeed.

JBS

#555
I'm listening to this from the RCA Complete Peter Serkin set, and whoaza!
Can't remember a recording of PC 1 that grabs my attention like this one does

PC 3 lies ahead but even if it's not as good, the PC 1 makes this a must have for anyone interested in Bartok.

[Yes, John, I'm looking at you!]

ETA
PC 3 is just as good.
The sonics are excellent; if I'm reading the booklet correctly, this mastering waa a previous one, not done for the set I have.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Mirror Image

#556
Quote from: JBS on July 06, 2022, 07:15:33 PM
I'm listening to this from the RCA Complete Peter Serkin set, and whoaza!
Can't remember a recording of PC 1 that grabs my attention like this one does

PC 3 lies ahead but even if it's not as good, the PC 1 makes this a must have for anyone interested in Bartok.

[Yes, John, I'm looking at you!]

It does look like an enticing recording. Unfortunately, the only way to acquire it would be to either buy the Serkin box set or the Ozawa on Sony box set of which neither appeals to me. If it was readily available as a Japanese import, I'd certainly jump on it, but it's OOP. Oh well, it's not like I don't have any Bartók PC recordings to listen to --- I own Kocsis/Fischer, Anda/Fricsay, Ashkenazy/Solti, Zimerman/Andsnes/Grimaud/Boulez, Schiff/Fischer, Kovacevich/Davis, Bavouzet/Noseda, Bronfman/Salonen, Donohoe/Rattle and several partial cycles most notably Pollini/Abbado.

lordlance

#557
A great performance of the CfO from an unlikely source:


AND in great sound!
If you are interested in listening to orchestrations of solo/chamber music, you might be interested in this thread.
Also looking for recommendations on neglected conductors thread.

MusicTurner

#558
Quote from: JBS on July 06, 2022, 07:15:33 PM
I'm listening to this from the RCA Complete Peter Serkin set, and whoaza!
Can't remember a recording of PC 1 that grabs my attention like this one does

PC 3 lies ahead but even if it's not as good, the PC 1 makes this a must have for anyone interested in Bartok.

[Yes, John, I'm looking at you!]

ETA
PC 3 is just as good.
The sonics are excellent; if I'm reading the booklet correctly, this mastering waa a previous one, not done for the set I have.

In spite of its general 'primitivism', the PC1 is somehow for me the one where the exact performance means most for appreciating the work (haven't really heard P. Serkin's rendition).

SurprisedByBeauty

#559


Since this seems the thread most suited to it, allow me to cross-post the Survey of Bartók String Quartet Cycles here.

Still interested in what people think their favorites are and which should be the recommended cycles.