Bartók: Contrasts for violin, clarinet & piano, BB 116, Sz. 111

Renowned as a virtuoso jazz clarinetist and legendary bandleader, Benny Goodman is also remembered for the works he commissioned from leading composers of his day. Poulenc’s strikingly beautiful Clarinet Sonata was his last composition, while Bernstein’s was his first published piece. Both Gershwin and Stravinsky added their distinctive stamp to the swing vibe which was all the rage in the early 20th century. The jazz flavour of Morton Gould’s Benny’s Gig is heightened by the unusual coupling of clarinet and double bass, while pungent folk rhythms define Bartók’s virtuoso Contrasts.

Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert Thorn

This disc presents Béla Bartók’s complete published American Columbia recordings, made in a series of sessions in New York in April and May 1940.

Although this was a time of great difficulty for the émigré composer, with the upheaval of migration, the strain of illness and several career challenges, one can only be compelled by the fire and dynamism of his playing and rewarded by his interaction with legendary violinist Joseph Szigeti and clarinettist Benny Goodman.

These authoritative interpretations of his music rank among the musical treasures of the wartime discography.

On this unique recording Escaich draws inspiration from the rhythms of Central Europe and finds a natural place on this CD alongside Debussy, Bartók and Martinu. No less ambivalent in his two compositions, Thierry Escaich throws himself into the depths of the soul which his three predecessors had only half explored... Listen on.

This fourth and final volume of the Géza Anda edition of recordings from the archives of the WDR, issued by Audite, culminates in music by Béla Bartók to which Anda was devoted from the beginning of his career.

Bartók’s piano concertos, the first two of which are presented here as impressive live recordings from 1952 and 1957, both with the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, achieved their final public breakthrough thanks to Anda’s efforts.

His enthusiasm for chamber music as well as his gift in performing together with world-famous Hungarian colleagues are revealed in two recordings from 1953.

To bring this edition to a close, Géza Anda can be heard once more as a soloist in a rousing performance of the Suite for piano Op 14 from 1955.

The young 2L label shows the tremendous scope of its activities in the six discs released this month. All recorded in state-of-the-art compatible SACD format, the repertoire ranges from Gregorian Chant for Lent and Holy Week, to

the music of Ola Gjeilo, very much a 21st-century post-modernist composer-performer, and Arne Nordheim, probably Norway’s best-known contemporary

composer.

The Nordheim disc demonstrates the other strand in 2L’s release programme:

young Norwegian artists – in this case the Cikada Duo. There is also a live recording of an excellent concert given by pianist Steffen Horn (Dussek, Grieg,

Rachmaninov and Prokofiev), and two discs devoted to young violinists in 20th

century repertoire: Annar Follesø playing Bartók, and an enticing coupling of

sonatas by Richard Strauss and George Enescu, played by Kolbjørn Holthe

accompanied by Tor Espen Aspaas.

Attractive and unusual “book” style presentation completes the picture, giving

instant ‘eye appeal’. Certainly, all worth checking out.