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 Read more
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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Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin, Dance Suite... (Live)
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Signum Records on Sep 2, 2016
Choc de ClassicaChoc Classica de l'année24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók, Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos
Béla Bartók
Concertos - Released by Avie Records on Jul 3, 2015
5 Sterne Fono Forum KlassikGerman-American violinist Augustin Hadelich made the most of a substitute appearance for Christian Tetzlaff at Disney Hall in Los Angeles in 2014 and ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Béla Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Soundmark on Jan 1, 1950
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: The Six String Quartets
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Tuxedo Music on May 22, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Veress: Piano Concerto / Dutilleux: Mystère de l'instant / Bartók: Divertimento for Strings
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Claves Records on Nov 7, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartok: Cantata Profana / Kodaly: Psalmus Hungaricus
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Hungaroton on Jul 15, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bright Moods
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by MSR Classics on May 8, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2, Concerto for Orchestra
Béla Bartók
Concertos - Released by Onyx Classics on Apr 29, 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Wild Dreams
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Avie Records on Mar 11, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gypsy
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Ancalagon LLC on Sep 30, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartok: Bartok at the Piano
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Hungaroton on Jan 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Béla Bartók au piano par lui-même (Enregistrements historiques 1920 à 1945)
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Pêcheurs de perles on Apr 10, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Béla Bartók: Piano Music
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by MSR Classics on Mar 10, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
SOLI: Works for Solo Violin by Bartók, Penderecki, Benjamin, Carter and Kurtág
Béla Bartók
Chamber Music - Released by Signum Records on Apr 6, 2015
On Soli, Tamsin Waley-Cohen's 2015 release on Signum Classics, the violinist explores modernist repertoire composed between 1944 and 2005. Because the ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rhapsodie: 20th-Century Clarinet Classics
Béla Bartók
Chamber Music - Released by Avie Records on Nov 11, 2016
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bela Bartok: Works For Violin and Piano, Vol. 1
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Blue Griffin Recording on Jul 14, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Béla Bartók: 44 Duos for Two Violins, Sz. 98
Béla Bartók
Chamber Music - Released by MSR Classics on Jan 10, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók the Pianist
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Hungaroton on Aug 5, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartok and Kodaly
Béla Bartók
Classical - Released by Albany Records on Jun 1, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo