This
disc, a representative sample of Bartók’s art as a chamber music
composer, contains three diverse works that demonstrate well
the richness of his output. The earliest work here, the Second
Violin and Piano Sonata is from Bartók’s expressionist period
of the 1920s, when The Miraculous Mandarin and First
Piano Concerto, as well as the First Violin and Piano Sonata,
were composed. It has the wild and woolly character of those
compositions and also the folk rhythms that became such an important
part of his writing. It is in two continuously played movements,
the first marked molto moderato is both dramatic and
lyrical. The following dance allegretto has plenty of
power, but ends quietly. The piece gives both violinist and
pianist a real workout, and these performers capture its essence.
If Anne-Sophie Mutter and Lambert Orkis (DG) find more colour
in the piece, Follesř and Hadland are by no means monochrome.
Theirs is the more powerful performance. I haven’t heard the
recent highly regarded account by Christian Tetzlaff and Leif
Ove Andsnes on Virgin.
Contrasts
for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano belongs
to the last period in Bartók’s career, but before he emigrated
to the United States, and is one of his most attractive
works. The piece was composed in response to a joint commission
from violinist Joseph Szigeti and clarinetist Benny Goodman.
Originally the work consisted of just the two dance movements,
the opening Verbunkos (Recruiting Dance) followed by
the Sebes (Fast Dance) and was entitled “Rhapsody,” following
the traditional layout of a Hungarian rhapsody. Bartók added
the slow movement, Pihenö (Relaxation), to be inserted
between the dances, in 1940 and performed the three-movement
piece with Szigeti and Goodman in Carnegie Hall in April of
that year. When they recorded it for Columbia Records, it was
renamed Contrasts. This represents the more accessible
side of Bartók and is typical of his later music. It has a strong
folk element in the two dance movements, while the slow movement
contains the more peaceful, open atmosphere of his night music
with its sounds of nature. In the last movement, the violinist
begins with an almost direct quotation from the beginning of
Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre and plays a deliberately mistuned
violin, after which he has to switch to a normal instrument.
This movement is more varied than the other two; it has elements
of jazz, a lyricism recalling the earlier night music, and much
humour. The work has received a number of outstanding performances,
from the dedicatees, whose recording is still available. The
artists here turn in a terrific account and the recording judiciously
balances the three instruments. They bring out well the character
of each movement without slighting the humor, but also without
overdoing it as some have done in the past. Their tempi seem
ideal.
The
1944 Sonata for Solo Violin opens the disc and is the
longest work on the programme. It was one of Bartók’s final
compositions and the last one he actually finished. He completed
his Third Piano Concerto of 1945, save for the orchestration
of the final bars, and left his Viola Concerto in sketch form.
The Sonata was commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin, who gave the
first performance in November 1944. The informative notes accompanying
this disc state that Menuhin “was unhappy with the quarter-tone
and third-tone passages” in the Sonata’s finale. Bartók allowed
him to make alterations in the score with the proviso that the
composer hear both versions before making a final decision.
Unfortunately, Bartók died before this could happen, and the
published score did not contain the original notation. Nonetheless,
the Sonata remains among Bartók’s supreme achievements. Its
four substantial movements run the gamut from Bach to Hungarian
folklore, containing contrapuntal and melodic writing in equal
measure. As Bach had done two centuries earlier, Bartók here
created a magnificent edifice for the solo violin and one that
severely tests the violinist’s virtuosity. It gives me pleasure
to say that Annar Follesř gives a thrilling
performance, one that compares well with Christian Tetzlaff’s
first account for Virgin. Follesř,
whom I had not heard before, won a prize at the Salzburg Festival’s
International Summer Academy for his
performance of this Sonata. Based on this recording, he deserved
it.
I
listened to this SACD through two channels but even so the recorded
sound is superb. The recording has great presence and a very natural
balance among the instruments. I can only add that I am looking
forward to hearing more from these artists.
Leslie Wright
