Béla Bartók (1881–1945)

CDBAR1 | One of his greatest successes of these American years was the Concerto for Orchestra, the result of a far-sighted commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation. The work is a masterpiece of accessibility and one of the last pieces from outside the Soviet Union to have entered the standard orchestral repertoire. Bartók also retained his mastery of small-scale forms. | a concerto became especially noted for displaying virtuosic abilities of a soloist. Thus the title “Concerto for Orchestra” can easily seem like a contradiction. However, the basic DNA of “contrast by independent forces” has been maintained. A concerto for orchestra preserves the concertante element by selecting individual sections, or maybe an individual of an orchestra, to serve momentarily into the solo spotlight. | In 1943, the Hungarian composer, Béla Bartók, wrote his iconic Concerto for Orchestra within the span of two months while visiting Saranac Lake in upstate New York. For the premiere, he wrote: “The general mood of the work represents, apart from the jesting second movement, a gradual transition from the sternness of the first movement and the lugubrious death-song of the third, to the life-assertion of the last one… The title of this symphony-like orchestral work is explained by its tendency to treat the single orchestral instruments in a concertant or soloistic manner. The virtuoso treatment appears, for instance, in the fugato sections of the development of the first movement (brass instruments), or in the perpetuum mobile-like passage of the principal theme in the last movement (strings), and especially in the second movement, in which pairs of instruments consecutively appear with brilliant passages.” The Concerto for Orchestra was secretly commissioned by two Hungarian-born friends, Szigeti and Reiner, who prevailed upon the flamboyant conductor Serge Koussevitsky to visit Bartók in a New York hospital and deliver the commission. Koussevitsky threw the commission down on the bedsheet, along with a $500 down payment, and coaxed the ailing composer back to work. Bartók revived his lagging spirits and began to write in August of 1943, completing the concerto in October. Fate was kind, and he managed to attend the successful premiere on December 1, 1944, in Boston. The fact that one of the world’s greatest composers died a painful death in abject poverty—and almost unknown—in New York City is chilling commentary. (Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, 2016. |

Tracklist

1. I. Introduzione (Andante non troppo - Allegro vivace) (Live From Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles / 2007)
10:33

2. II. Giuoco della coppie (Allegretto scherzando) (Live From Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles / 2007)
06:36

3. III. Elegia (Andante, non troppo) (Live From Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles / 2007)
07:49

4. IV. Intermezzo interrotto (Allegretto) (Live From Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles / 2007)
04:27

5. V. Finale (Pesante - Presto) (Live From Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles / 2007)
10:19… (meer)