Bartók’s 44 Duos, rich in folk melodies, are augmented by two pieces by Ligeti and Kurtág, in an all-Hungarian programme. Jewelled miniatures of 20th century music, performed by András Keller and János Pilz – violinists of Hungary’s renowned Keller Quartet, and outstanding musicians steeped in the Bartókian tradition. These are beautiful, touching, dazzling performances. Bartók’s "44 Duos for Violin" like his Mikrokosmos for piano are pieces that transcend their original pedagogic intention to stand by themselves as perfectly poised works. (Every violin student should own this album, but it is also music for a much wider public.) All but two of the duos are based on folk music, of many sources. Here, Hanns Eisler’s judgement is relevant: "Had Bartók written nothing but his arrangements of Romanian, Slovakian and Hungarian peasant songs and dances, he would nonetheless number among the great masters in the history of music. He is highly original and highly popular at the same time."
Béla Bartók: 44 Duos for Two Violins
András Keller, János Pilz
- 44 Duos for Two Violins
-
- 2Oláh nóta / Rumanian Song00:54
- 3Rutén kolomejka / Ruthenian Kolomejka01:03
- 4Rutén nóta / Ruthenian Song01:15
- 5Gyermekrengetéskor / Lullaby01:20
- 6Menyasszonybúcsúztató / Wedding Song01:21
- 7Tót nóta II / Slovak Song II01:14
- 8Játék / Play00:42
- 9Párnás tánc / Cushion Dance00:47
- 10Dal / Song01:36
- 11Ujévköszöntö IV / New Year's Greeting IV00:43
- 12Máramarosi tánc / Dance from Máramaros00:40
- 13Ujévköszöntö I / New Year's Greeting I02:19
- 14Szénagy üjtéskor / Hay-harvesting Song01:14
- 15Lakodalmas / Wedding Song01:29
- 16Számláló nóta / Countin Song00:57
- 17Aratáskor / Harvest Song01:55
- 18Mese / Fairy Tale01:17
- 19Ujévköszöntö II / New Year's Greeting II00:54
- 20Kalamajkó / Dance00:41
- 21Menuetto00:57
- 22"Ugyan édes komámasszony ..." / Teasing Song00:34
- 23Ujévköszöntö III / New Year's Greeting III00:53
- 24Párosító / Teasing Song00:54
- 25Szunyogtánc / Mosquito Dance00:32
- 26Sánta-tánc / Limping Dance00:33
- 27Magyar nóta I / Hungarian Song I01:02
- 28Magyar nóta II / Hungarian Song II00:57
- 29Katonanóta / Soldiers' Song01:03
- 30Szentivánéji / Midsummer Night Song00:49
- 31Burleszk / Burlesque01:00
- 32Menetelö nóta I / Marching Song I00:50
- 33Menetelö nóta II / Marching Song II00:53
- 34Bánkódás / Sorrow02:28
- 35Szól a duda / Bagpipes02:05
- 36Tót nóta I / Slovak Song I01:02
- 37Szól a duda / Bagpipes02:07
- 38Preludium és kánon / Prelude and Canon02:51
- 39Forgatós / Rumanian Whirling Dance00:44
- 40Tréfás nóta / Gay Song00:43
- 41Pizziccato01:13
- 42Oláh tánc / Rumanian Dance00:50
- 43Arab dal / Arabian Song01:20
- 44Scherzo00:47
- 45Szerb tánc / Serbian Dance00:54
- Ballad and Dance
- 46Ballad01:28
- 47Dance01:19
- 48Ligatura - Message to Frances-Marie op. 31b
02:40
As with his "Mikrokosmos" pieces for piano, the "44 Duos" transcend, of course, mere pedagogic intent. This is very finely-crafted music that bears out Hanns Eisler's assessment: "Had Bartók written nothing but his arrangements of Romanian, Slovakian and Hungarian peasant songs and dances, he would nonetheless number among the great masters in the history of music." For Bartók did not merely record and preserve folk music in the Duos; he merged progressive sonic concepts with old rules of part-writing, and married the "spontaneous expression of musical feeling" and unusual scales which he found in folk music with the broader harmonic palette of new music. Thus the apparently simple and often delightful wedding songs, harvest songs, soldier's songs and lullabies collected in the "44 Duos" repay the very closest attention. "Bartók's miniatures, some of which take no more than 30 seconds to play, were long treated as pure studies rather than what they actually are: attenuated tonal resources not withstanding, these are challenging character pieces on a par with Schumann's 'Kinderszenen'. Easy to underestimate, they pose the same problems of interpretation summed up by the bon mot about Mozart's piano sonatas: too simple for children, too difficult for adults" (Wolfgang Sandner in the CD booklet notes).
In the cycle as published, the pieces are graded in terms of their technical demands, complexity increasing as the student progresses. However Bartók requested that for performances a new order be determined. András Keller and producer Manfred Eicher have integrated the pieces here into a particularly satisfying dramaturgical flow. 45 duos, in fact appear in the cycle on this occasion, as Keller and Pilz play both variations of the 36th duo, "Bagpipes". The recording is rounded out with pieces from Bartók's most important 'successors', György Ligeti and György Kurtág. Ligeti and Kurtág have assimilated the influence of Bartók and share his interest in Hungarian folk music. Ligeti, inspired by Bartók's example, also collected Romanian folk songs; his "Ballad and Dance" is based upon one of them. And Kurtág, again taking his cue from Bartók ("Bartók is my mother tongue") viewed his own "Játékok" collection of "children's games" as a contemporary follow-up to the "Mikrokosmos" teaching pieces. András Keller and Janosz Pilz previously recorded two versions of the "Ligatura" (with the Keller Quartet plus the composer on celesta), on the ECM Kurtág album, "Musik für Streichinstrumente".
What is addressed, then, on this album is the creative continuum of Hungarian music - its three most important 20th century composers, its folk tradition, and two of its most outstanding players. As Paul Griffiths noted recently, "Thanks partly to a rich store of folk music that survived in everyday use long enough to be recorded, partly to Bartók's example and partly to an unusual vigour in musical education at all levels, Hungary has been providing the world with composers and performing musicians out of all proportion to the size of its population."
Work with Andràs Keller and Janosz Pilz in the Keller Quartet continues at ECM. Forthcoming releases include: Alexander Knaifel's "In Air Clean and Unseen" for piano and string quartet, with Oleg Malov; Shostakovich's 15th String Quartet; and Schnittke's Piano Quintet, with Alexander Lubimov.
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