Béla Bartók (1881-1945)

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That one's my favorite. It has that expressively "earthy" sound, owing to the Budapest musicians no doubt. And Philips couldn't have given them a better recording.

This is good news. I just received that 3-CD set today. I plan to dive into this weekend.

[jowcol]

It's not copy and pasted tho .. I actually typed all that out. 

with a copy of the The Rough Guide to Classical Music, 4th Edition; eds. Joe Staines & Duncan Clark before you, perhaps?

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Is the Concerto for Orchestra a good piece for people who are listening to Bartók for the first time? I've listened to it a few times, but I'm having an extremely hard time keeping focused. My mind drifts away after the first movement and comes back in the fifth with that nice folk-ish tune, and I feel like I've never listened to the middle movements... 

If the Concerto for Orchestra was the only Bartok work I heard, I probably never would have pursued his music any further. The first recording I bought of any of Bartok's music was the famous Reiner/CSO disc on RCA, which still sounds unbelievably good. I'm thankful the recording included Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta and Hungarian Sketches, because, as I said, I would have never been interested in Bartok's music had I only heard the Concerto for Orchestra. To this day, I'm still not that enthralled with the Concerto for Orchestra, but, thankfully, Bartok wrote so much outstanding music that there's a lot to listen to. A few of my absolute favorite works are The Wooden Prince, The Miraculous Mandarin, Violin Concertos 1 & 2, the three piano concerti, Divertimento, and Contrasts. I also can't ignore the minor works like Two Portraits, Rhapsodies 1 & 2, Dance Suite, among others. He's really written some fine music and his music has been a huge part of my life for the past three or four years.

[Karl Henning]

If the Concerto for Orchestra was the only Bartok work I heard, I probably never would have pursued his music any further.

Not at all the case for me, BTW. The Concerto for Orchestra probably was the first Bartók work I heard — and thus, perforce, for a period the only Bartók work I heard for some period — and it fired my imagination to wish to hear more of his work.

[Mirror Image]

Not at all the case for me, BTW. The Concerto for Orchestra probably was the first Bartók work I heard — and thus, perforce, for a period the only Bartók work I heard for some period — and it fired my imagination to wish to hear more of his work.

Of Bartok's later period, I do like the 3rd PC a lot. I think it's especially fine, but nothing else he wrote in the last couple of years of his life really ignited as much interest in his music like earlier and middle periods. I like ruggedness, edginess of these periods. It's amusing to think about, but I like late Janacek for this reason as well.

[prémont]

Fricsay is for Bartók-collectors because it is mono.

I suppose the work (Music for et.c.) as such is for Bartók collectors (i.e. not the most accessible work of his). However I am fully satisfied with Fricsay´s version even if mono.

[DieNacht]

Bought and heard the old MHS lp Bartok: 3rd Piano Concerto / Ditta Bartok-Pasztory, Tibor Serly conductor.; Serly: Concerto for 2 Pianos & Orchestra / today. An apparently interesting issue, since the Bartok concerto was written for D-B as a birthday present, and Serly completed it. She refused to play it for more than a decade after Bartok´s death, then agreed to make the recording - in stereo with Serly and Orchester Wiener Volksoper. Ufortunately it turns out that the Bartok performance is very disappointing here. Perhaps the pianist was past her prime, but the playing is boringly lifeless, tempi dragged out, and the orchestral sound receded, some instruments barely being audible. There´s a tiny tendency to something interesting in the beginning of the slow movement, but that´s all. It´s by far the least attractive version I´ve heard. Timings are: 8:02 - 9:02 - 8:00

Better are Argerich/Dutoit, Farnadi/Scherchen, Kocsis/Fischer, Bernathova/Ancerl, Katchen/Ansermet and Ranki/Ferencsik. Some prefer Sandor/Reinhardt and Anda/Fricsay. All are definitely much to be preferred to this issue.

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Just echoing what I wrote in the "Latest Purchases" thread, Bartok fans will want the new Gramophone January 2012 issue:

[johnshade]

Just echoing what I wrote in the "Latest Purchases" thread, Bartok fans will want the new Gramophone January 2012 issue:

What I did not like about the article in Gramophone is the opinion that Bartok's music is somehow influenced by jazz. I have a biographical article stating that Bartok did not like jazz ("...frequently banal to the point of boredom"). See page 237 in Bartok and His World, Princeton University Press, 1995.

[mahler10th]

Just echoing what I wrote in the "Latest Purchases" thread, Bartok fans will want the new Gramophone January 2012 issue:

I will buy it during my upcoming Classical splurge.  I am glad johnshade has pointed out Bartoks NON JAZZ influence.  I know a lot of composers have been influenced by Jazz, but the less the better.  Jazz is fine, I like Monk, but Jazz is Jazz and Orchestral music is Orchestral music.  On the same level, I would hate to think Monk was influenced by Classical Music.  Both ways, it is like mixing showjumping with ice hockey.  Both sports, but both completely different.

[Sergeant Rock]

Not at all the case for me, BTW. The Concerto for Orchestra probably was the first Bartók work I heard — and thus, perforce, for a period the only Bartók work I heard for some period — and it fired my imagination to wish to hear more of his work.

That mirrors my early Bartok experience. Szell, Cleveland, the Concerto...that was Bartok for years.

Sarge

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What I did not like about the article in Gramophone is the opinion that Bartok's music is somehow influenced by jazz. I have a biographical article stating that Bartok did not like jazz ("...frequently banal to the point of boredom"). See page 237 in Bartok and His World, Princeton University Press, 1995.

As with anything, the article is based one person's viewpoint. Jazz had no bearing on Bartok's music whatsoever. I find it a curious error on the writer's part too, but I've only read the article once. I did enjoy the section about Bluebeard's Castle and, off topic, the article on 21st Century concert halls. That was pretty cool.

[Karl Henning]

What I did not like about the article in Gramophone is the opinion that Bartok's music is somehow influenced by jazz.

Agreed, disappointingly sloppy thinking — There are points of similarity between Bartók's music and jazz, therefore Bartók's was influenced by jazz.  (And I speak as an enthusiast for stretches of jazz.)

As for myself, I find the use of the term maverick already unbearably tiresome.

[Karl Henning]

. . . Jazz is fine, I like Monk, but Jazz is Jazz and Orchestral music is Orchestral music.

I once kept them carefully segregated, too. But what of (the obvious example) Rhapsody in Blue?  The iconic genre-crosser . . . .

[mahler10th]

I once kept them carefully segregated, too. But what of (the obvious example) Rhapsody in Blue?  The iconic genre-crosser . . . .

Pure Hybrid music.

[Karl Henning]

Pure hybrid is a delightful oxymoron! : )

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Landed today:



This will be my 9th recording of Bluebeard's Castle. Can't wait to hear this one!

[not edward]

I assume the Bartok-jazz claim comes largely from Contrasts, due to it being written for Benny Goodman to play. Of course, the fact that its exemplars (if any) are Hungarian folk music, and that it was written at the request of Joseph Szigeti (the distinctly Hungarian violinist in the first performances), aren't so interesting to people wanting to find a link.

[johnshade]

My favourite Bartok:
1. Music for strings, percussion, and celesta
2. Sonata for two pianos and percusssion
3. String Quartet No. 5
4. Concerto for Orchestra
5. Divertimento for String Orchestra
(I believe these were composed in the last ten years of his life;
my favorite Bartok "period".) I was first exposed to Bartok's music
at a concert at Florida State University in the 1950s. Ernst von
Dohnanyi was resident composer at that time.

[Karl Henning]

Long though I have known so much of his music, the Divertimento was a 'sleeper' by me . . . only recently (relatively) have I come to appreciate it.