Composer: Béla Bartók
Performer: James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Release: 2013
Size: 861 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Sonata for Solo Violin, Sz. 117, BB 124
01. I. Tempo di ciaccona
02. II. Fuga. Risoluto, non troppo vivo
03. III. Melodia: Adagio
04. IV. Presto
Violin Sonata in E minor, BB 28
05. I. Allegro moderato (molto rubato)
06. II. Andante
07. III. Vivace
Magyar nepdalok (Hungarian Folksongs), BB 109 (arr. T. Orszagh)
08. No. 1, Andante – Un poco più lento
09. No. 2, Allegretto
10. No. 3, Lento, ma non troppo
11. No. 4, Allegro
12. No. 5, Lento, poco rubato
13. No. 6, Allegretto
14. No. 7, Allegretto, scherzando
15. No. 8, Sostenuto – Allegro – Adagio
16. No. 9, Allegro robusto
For Children, BB 53 [Based on Hungarian folk tunes]
17. No. 1, Parlando (arr. Of for Children, Vol. 2, No. 28)
18. No. 2, Andante non molto (arr. Of for Children, Vol. 1, No. 18)
19. No. 3, Allegro vivace (arr. Of for Children, Vol. 2, No. 42)
20. No. 4, Andante sostenuto (arr. Of for Children, Vol. 2, No. 33)
21. No. 5, Allegro (arr. Of for Children, Vol. 1, No. 6)
22. No. 6, Andante (arr. Of for Children, Vol. 1, No. 13)
23. No. 7, Poco vivace (arr. Of for Children, Vol. 2, No. 38)
Roman nepi tancok (Romanian Folk Dances), BB 68 (arr. Z. Szekely)
24. No. 1, Jocul cu bata (Stick Dance)
25. No. 2, Braul (Sash Dance)
26. No. 3, Pe loc (In One Place)
27. No. 4, Buciumeana (Horn Dance)
28. No. 5, Poarga Romaneasca (Romanian Polka)
29. No. 6, Maruntel (Fast Dance)
James Ehnes has previously explored Béla Bartók’s concertos for violin and for viola, to great acclaim. This disc is the second in his equally successful survey of Bartók’s chamber music for the violin. His accompanist, once more, is Andrew Armstrong, a pianist praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique.
The folk-inspired Sonata for Solo Violin was the last work that Bartók wrote for the instrument, not to mention the most challenging. In a departure from his usual practice, this work was written not for a fellow Hungarian, but rather for an artist born in New York where Bartók was now living: Yehudi Menuhin. Suitably impressed by a recital performance by Menuhin of his first Violin Sonata as well as Bach’s Sonata in C, he had no hesitation in accepting the violinist’s commission for a sonata that, like Bach’s, would be unaccompanied.
Almost half a century earlier, Bartók had written his Sonata for Violin and Piano in E minor. It was included in a concert given by graduating students of the Liszt Academy in June 1903, when a critic, most likely not realising just how right he would prove, hailed Bartók as ‘a phenomenal young genius, whose name today is known only to a few, but who is destined to play a great and brilliant role in the history of Hungarian music’.
Additionally on this disc we have three groups of Bartók’s Romanian and Hungarian folk dances, folksongs, and folk tunes, arranged for violin variously by Zoltán Székely, Tivadar Országh, and Joseph Szigeti, often with direct involvement by the composer himself who helped fine-tune the new arrangements. James Ehnes also highlights the Romanian influences in Bartók’s Sonatina for piano, transcribed for violin by André Gertler, a student of Bartók’s.