Bartok

Béla Bartók’s monumental Mikrokosmos, containing 153 mainly short “progressive” piano pieces composed between 1932 and 1939, is both a very special piano method and a collection of wonderfully original performance pieces (the series actually contains almost the complete piano music by Bartók from the 1930s).

In 2023 I undertook a return trip to Hungary with my daughter; I wanted her to see the land of her mother’s early childhood, as well as that of her forebears.

Bartók, for me, is truly one of the most important composers “Bartók, for me, is truly one of the most important composers, on a par with Beethoven and Mozart.” In our interview about the piano works on this album, Hungarian pianist Dénes Várjon constantly expressed deep admiration, a keen understanding of this music, and a strong affinity with the composer’s personality. For this musician, bringing Bartók closer to the audience as a person and an artist is a labour of love. ”I grew up with his music. It feels like a mother tongue to me. And I’m interested in everything he wrote, from the earliest works to the late ones. It’s so important to see the traditions he came from and to understand how he found his voice as a composer.”

“Bartók, for me, is truly one of the most important composers, on a par with Beethoven and Mozart.” In our interview about the piano works on this album, Hungarian pianist Dénes Várjon constantly expressed deep admiration, a keen understanding of this music, and a strong affinity with the composer’s personality. For this musician, bringing Bartók closer to the audience as a person and an artist is a labour of love. ”I grew up with his music. It feels like a mother tongue to me. And I’m interested in everything he wrote, from the earliest works to the late ones. It’s so important to see the traditions he came from and to understand how he found his voice as a composer.”

Celebrated violinists Maria Milstein and Mathieu van Bellen pair Bela Bartok's 44 Duos for Two Violins with Luciano Berio's 34 Duetti per Due Violini. Bartok's miniature masterpieces have inspired and delighted countless young musicians.

Celebrated violinists Maria Milstein and Mathieu van Bellen pair Béla Bartók’s 44 Duos for Two Violins with Luciano Berio’s 34 Duetti per Due Violini. Bartók’s miniature masterpieces have inspired and delighted countless young musicians. Although written for children, these duos are far from childlike: original harmonies, striking dissonances and lively rhythms are employed to create music with emotional depth, some being profoundly tragic, others fierce, lyrical, wild or fiery. Few works capture the vitality of folk music as vividly as these. Like Bartók, Berio composed his 'Duetti' as teaching pieces, dedicating each of the 34 duos to a friend, colleague or composer, beginning with Béla, an homage to Bartók. The pieces offer a kaleidoscope of styles, reflecting Berio’s personal connections with the dedicatees.

Paul Neubauer American violist Paul Neubauer has pursued an active career as an orchestral musician, concerto soloist, educator, and music editor. He studied with Paul Doktor, Alan de Veritch, and William Primrose, and earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music at the Juilliard School. Following graduation, Neubauer became the youngest principal violist of the New York Philharmonic at the age of 21, and held the position for six years. He has performed in concert with major orchestras around the world, and given premieres of viola concertos by Joan Tower, Krzystof Penderecki, and Tobias Picker, as well as the revised version of Béla Bartók's Viola Concerto. Neubauer received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1989, and became a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has also served as artistic director of the Mostly Music series and as music director of the OK Mozart Festival. As a viola teacher, Neubauer has been a faculty member of the Juilliard School and Mannes College, and The New School of Music, and his students have included Richard O’Neill, Scott Lee, Gilad Karni, and Che-Yen Chen. Neubauer has edited publications for Boosey & Hawkes, International Music Company, and Universal Edition.

Although little know, the literature for two violins has an ancient history, that on one side refers to the educational purpose of playing together and reciprocally li-stening to each other, and on the other side refers to the folk tradition. The compositions of this album truly move within all these different perspectives: they are in part folk music pieces, in part pieces with a didactic aim, but above all they are dialogs with a high chamber music value. Bartók and Prokofiev, with the Fortyfour duets and the Sonata for two violins gifted us with two cornerstones of the literature for these instruments in the narrow space of two years, 1931 and 1932, opening this repertoire to new textures and new languages.

The inclusion of a fine performance of the Divertimento composed just before the 6th Quartet is a welcome bonus on this set. The recordings date from 1966 (quartets) and 1964 (Divertimento, Hungarian Chamber Orchestra led by Vilmos Tátrai), and they sound very good, though dry compared with the excellent Takacs recording, which is justly regarded as one of the finest chamber music recordings yet made. Among the three I would recommend Takacs for those getting to know the music and wanting a 'best' recording performance, sound, the whole ball of wax. Otherwise, one can't go wrong with any of these (the Vegh set being a personal favorite), and the inclusion of the Divertimento makes this Tátrai recording a very attractive choice.

Zoltán Székely is remembered today as the first violinist of the famed Hungarian String Quartet but he was also a distinguished soloist in his own right. He studied with the legendary Jeno Hubay and was rated the one of the finest Hungarian soloist of his generation. The Glazunov Concerto featured on this CD was the only commercial concerto recording Székely’s ever made. Also featured is the violinist’s celebrated transcription of Béla Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances. Székely performed frequently with Bartók in recital, and was the dedicatee of the composer’s Second Rhapsody.