Béla Bartók
Through his far-reaching endeavors as composer, performer, educator, and ethnomusicolgist, Béla Bartók emerged as one of the most forceful and influential musical personalities of the 20th century.
Born in Nagyszentmiklós, Hungary (now Romania), on March 25, 1881, Bartók began his musical training with piano studies at the age of five, foreshadowing his lifelong affinity for the instrument. Following his graduation from the Royal Academy of Music in 1901 and the composition of his first mature works -- most notably, the symphonic poem Kossuth (1903) -- Bartók embarked on one of the classic field studies in the history of ethnomusicology. With fellow countryman and composer Zoltán Kodály, he traveled throughout Hungary and neighboring countries, collecting thousands of authentic folk songs. Bartók's immersion in this music lasted for decades, and the intricacies he discovered therein, from plangent modality to fiercely aggressive rhythms, exerted a potent influence on his own musical language.
In addition to his compositional activities and folk music research, Bartók's career unfolded amid a bustling schedule of teaching and performing. The great success he enjoyed as a concert artist in the 1920s was offset somewhat by difficulties that arose from the tenuous political atmosphere in Hungary, a situation exacerbated by the composer's frank manner. As the specter of fascism in Europe in the 1930s grew ever more sinister, he refused to play in Germany and banned radio broadcasts of his music there and in Italy. A concert in Budapest on October 8, 1940, was the composer's farewell to the country which had provided him so much inspiration and yet caused him so much grief. Days later, Bartók and his wife set sail for America.
In his final years Bartók was beleaguered by poor health. Though his prospects seemed sunnier in the final year of his life, his last great hope -- to return to Hungary -- was dashed in the aftermath of World War II. He died of leukemia in New York on September 26, 1945. The composer's legacy included a number of ambitious but unrealized projects, including a Seventh String Quartet; two major works, the Viola Concerto and the Piano Concerto No. 3, were completed from Bartók's in-progress scores and sketches by his pupil, Tibor Serly.
From its roots in the music he performed as a pianist -- Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms -- Bartók's own style evolved through several stages into one of the most distinctive and influential musical idioms of the first half of the 20th century. The complete assimilation of elements from varied sources -- the Classical masters, contemporaries like Debussy, folk songs -- is one of the signal traits of Bartók's music. The polychromatic orchestral textures of Richard Strauss had an immediate and long-lasting effect upon Bartók's own instrumental sense, evidenced in masterpieces such as Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (1936) and the Concerto for Orchestra (1945). Bartók demonstrated an especial concern with form in his exploitation and refinement of devices like palindromes, arches, and proportions based on the "golden section." Perhaps above all other elements, though, it is the ingenious application of rhythm that gives Bartók's music its keen edge. Inspired by the folk music he loved, Bartók infused his works with asymmetrical, sometimes driving, often savage, rhythms, which supply violent propulsion to works such as Allegro barbaro (1911) and the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1937). If a single example from Bartók's catalogue can be regarded as representative, it is certainly the piano collection Mikrokosmos (1926-1939), originally intended as a progressive keyboard primer for the composer's son, Peter. These six volumes, comprising 153 pieces, remain valuable not only as a pedagogical tool but as an exhaustive glossary of the techniques -- melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, formal -- that provided a vessel for Bartók's extraordinary musical personality.
© Michael Rodman /TiVo
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Bartok and Kodaly
Classical - Lançado por Albany Records em 01/06/1990
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Violin Sonata, Sz. 117 / 44 Violin Duos, Sz. 98
Symphonic Music - Lançado por Naxos em 31/12/1994
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Hommage à Béla Bartók (Mono Version)
Béla Bartók, Joseph Szigeti, Benny Goodman
Miscellaneous - Lançado por BNF Collection em 01/01/1961
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Béla Bartók: String Quartet No. 1, Op.7, Sz. 40, BB. 52 / String Quartet No. 2, Op.17, Sz. 67, BB. 75 / String Quartet No. 3, Sz. 85, BB. 93
Classical - Lançado por Zeroh em 16/06/2017
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Dohnanyi, Bartok, Fischer, Kentner, Cziffra plays Liszt
Ernő Dohnányi, Béla Bartók, Annie Fischer, Louis Kentner, Gyorgy Cziffra
Classical - Lançado por Hungaroton em 11/04/2011
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Piano Performances 1928-1945
Classical - Lançado por Essential World Masters em 01/07/2010
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Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Recorded 1981) (Live)
New York Philharmonic, Rafael Kubelik
Classical - Lançado por New York Philharmonic em 08/12/2017
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Béla Bartók: The Complete Violin Duos
János Négyesy, Päivikki Nykter
Chamber Music - Lançado por Neuma Records em 01/05/1993
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Work & Relax with Bartók
Classical - Lançado por UME - Global Clearing House em 23/01/2021
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Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Classical - Lançado por Everest Records em 10/07/1961
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Bela Bartók - Divertimento For String Orchestra and Music For Strings, Percussion & Celesta
The Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Lançado por Soundmark em 09/02/2011
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Bela Bartok - Florilège de la Musique Classique Moderne et Contemporaine - Highlights of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music - Vol. 10
Classical - Lançado por ISIS em 25/03/2016
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Bela Bartok - Florilège de la Musique Classique Moderne et Contemporaine - Highlights of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music - Vol. 8
Classical - Lançado por ISIS em 25/03/2016
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Tarantelle. Piano Works by Chopin, Rachmaninoff & Bartók
Irene Cantos, Béla Bartók, Serge Rachmaninoff, Frédéric Chopin, Dimitri Chostakovitch
Classical - Lançado por Novus Promusica em 09/04/2024
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Rumänische Weihnachtslieder - Melodii de colinde (instrumental)
Christmas Music - Lançado por Classicato em 28/11/2020
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Echos. Piano Works by Beethoven & Rachmaninoff
Irene Cantos, Ludwig van Beethoven, Serge Rachmaninoff, Béla Bartók
Classical - Lançado por Novus Promusica em 12/03/2024
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Szerelem, Szerelem - Love, Love
Folk - Lançado por Vintage Jukebox em 25/08/2023
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Beethoven, Debussy & Bartok
Classical - Lançado por Altair em 17/04/2023
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Bartók & Mussorgsky: Piano Works
Classical - Lançado por Centaur Records, Inc. em 05/04/2019
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J.S. Bach, Bartók & Brahms: Violin Works
Joseph Szigeti, Béla Bartók, Egon Petri
Classical - Lançado por Biddulph Recordings em 16/08/1999
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Bartok - The Six String Quartets
Classical - Lançado por Denon em 01/01/1991
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