BaL 29.02.20 - Bartók: Piano Concerto No 3.

[gurnemanz]

The Anda/Fricsay LP of two and three was an early classical LP purchases as I branched out from rock/pop in my late teens.



My copy also has the Grand Prix du Disque label. The music really grabbed me and it had great stereo sound when such a thing was still quite novel. Became a favourite disc and I got the DG Originals CD, which also has the First Concerto, as soon as it appeared. I now have some recordings others including:

Annie Fischer/Markevitch - LSO
John Ogdon/Sargent - Philharmonia
Julius Katchen/Ansermet - Suisse Romande (not great sound)

[Richard Barrett]

The main reason why I wish to pursue this is really because Bartok seems to touch people in so many different ways with different works. I am fascinated by that...not just a composer you immediately like or feel comfortable with. I am taking it on as a challenge!

Usually there is some sort of key that unlocks a whole oeuvre for me. In the case of Shostakovich it was the two-note fugue in the third movement of his 4th Symphony, at the hands of a friend who knows me well enough to know exactly where my weak spots are. As for Bartók, it's been a much slower process which is still incomplete, but in fact the 3rd Concerto was one of my first steps into his music, even if the third movement is a bit weak in comparison with the foregoing ones. In the meantime there are works of his I prefer to it, and others I still haven't got to grips with. Looking on the bright side, it means that my musical tastes have never stopped changing. I don't fancy the idea that (puts on Yorkshire accent) "I know what I like and I like what I bloody well know".

[Bryn]

I quite forget which of Bartok's works might first have drawn me in to listen closely but the Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion does stand out as the fisrt I sought out on disc. The 6 string Quartets were simply come across in the LP racks at the former Singer Sewing Machine shop in Windsor's Thames Street. I had to go over the bridge into Eton High Street to order the Sonata (coupled with Janacek's Concertino and Sonate 1.x.1905, the latter pair initiating another enthusiasm). School lunch money well saved and spent.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Lots of good suggestions above. Not my own route into Bartok - that was probably via the Concerto for Orchestra and Sonata for 2 pfs and percussion back in my teens - but if folk music offers you a possible route in, I'd strongly recommend this disc https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bartok-Lp-M...s=music&sr=1-1

I'm utterly aghast that it seems now to be deleted but snap it up if you see it anywhere. It is a mixture of Bartok's own field recordings, modern versions by Muzikas (vocal and instrumental), and some of Bartok's 44 Duos for 2 vlns where Bartok took his inspiration from his field recordings. The violinists are Muzikas's own Peter Eris and Alexander Balanescu. Folk influences, from Hungary and many other nations/ ethnicities, are of course a key influence on almost all of B's original works.

[Richard Barrett]

I'm utterly aghast that it seems now to be deleted but snap it up if you see it anywhere. It is a mixture of Bartok's own field recordings, modern versions by Muzikas (vocal and instrumental), and some of Bartok's 44 Duos for 2 vlns where Bartok took his inspiration from his field recordings. The violinists are Muzikas's own Peter Eris and Alexander Balanescu. Folk influences, from Hungary and many other nations/ ethnicities, are of course a key influence on almost all of B's original works.

That's a very enjoyable album indeed.

I guess my own way into Bartók was from the opposite direction, through his most "modernistic" works like the Sonata for two pianos and percussion, Music for strings... and the later quartets. Which is of course not to deny the influence of folk songs on those pieces too! One of the attractions of Bartók's music in general is that strange and inimitable combination of new and old, although of course the piece ostensibly under discussion here is evidence of a step backwards stylistically in his last works.

[Richard Barrett]

Oh yes, and the Four Pieces for orchestra op.12. I wonder why he didn't decide to call this a symphony.

[Bryn]

Lots of good suggestions above. Not my own route into Bartok - that was probably via the Concerto for Orchestra and Sonata for 2 pfs and percussion back in my teens - but if folk music offers you a possible route in, I'd strongly recommend this disc https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bartok-Lp-M...s=music&sr=1-1

I'm utterly aghast that it seems now to be deleted but snap it up if you see it anywhere. It is a mixture of Bartok's own field recordings, modern versions by Muzikas (vocal and instrumental), and some of Bartok's 44 Duos for 2 vlns where Bartok took his inspiration from his field recordings. The violinists are Muzikas's own Peter Eris and Alexander Balanescu. Folk influences, from Hungary and many other nations/ ethnicities, are of course a key influence on almost all of B's original works.

I had the good fortune to find that in a now closed PDSA charity shop in Windsor, about a decade ago. I concur. An excellent disc.

[Bryn]

Oh yes, and the Four Pieces for orchestra op.12. I wonder why he didn't decide to call this a symphony.

Perhaps he did not want them to be confused with his 'lost' Symphony in E flat:

[MickyD]

It's been really good to hear all these different takes on Bartok. Up early this morning and finding myself really quite enjoying the first movement of Piano Concerto No.2. Maybe one's receptivity is often dependent on when you listen!

[Pulcinella]

It's been really good to hear all these different takes on Bartok. Up early this morning and finding myself really quite enjoying the first movement of Piano Concerto No.2. Maybe one's receptivity is often dependent on when you listen!

There's hope for you yet, then, Micky. You'll be listening to the finale of Firebird to spot the resemblance next!

But be warned: there's a lot of 'night music' in Bartok too, so you might have to stay up late sometimes to get the full effect.

Happy listening.

[MickyD]

There's hope for you yet, then, Micky. You'll be listening to the finale of Firebird to spot the resemblance next!

But be warned: there's a lot of 'night music' in Bartok too, so you might have to stay up late sometimes to get the full effect.

Happy listening.

Ah, that's funny, it did strike me that there were traces of Firebird there! Now onto the 3rd concerto...

[Pulcinella]

I've just been reading (in Halsey Stevens' book The life and music of Bela Bartok), with respect to the first movement of PC2, that:

the transition to the cadenza is effected by means of a stretto on the retrograde inversion of motive a

where motive a is the trumpet opening, the one with the first six notes being the same (different key, different rhythm) as in the Firebird finale.

If I hadn't spotted that before, there's not much hope for me coping with the retrograde inversions of the tone rows in Stravinsky's late works, still waiting to be tackled.

[Bryn]

I've just been reading (in Halsey Stevens' book The life and music of Bela Bartok), with respect to the first movement of PC2, that:

the transition to the cadenza is effected by means of a stretto on the retrograde inversion of motive a

where motive a is the trumpet opening, the one with the first six notes being the same (different key, different rhythm) as in the Firebird finale.

If I hadn't spotted that before, there's not much hope for me coping with the retrograde inversions of the tone rows in Stravinsky's late works, still waiting to be tackled.

Fortunately, you do not have to be able to analyse the particular compositional devices for the synthesis achieved by the composer to have its musical effect.

[Pulcinella]

Fortunately, you do not have to be able to analyse the particular compositional devices for the synthesis achieved by the composer to have its musical effect.

True, but it's nice to know why that first movement sounds like it's come back home at the end.

[MickyD]

Well now, here's an interesting development. Having listened again to the third concerto yesterday, this morning upon waking, I found myself actually humming a phrase from the last movement! A sure sign that Mr Bartok is seemingly getting under my skin at last.