Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances for orchestra, Sz. 68, BB 76

Ernest Ansermet's view of Bartok was a lyrical one and his incredible ear brought out lines, sonorities and shape in this music that have rarely been equalled. Here, collected together on CD for the first time, are his complete Bartok recordings for Decca as part of the ongoing 'Decca Ansermet Legacy' and they include some of his most famous orchestral works, with a first release on CD of the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, and a first international release of the other orchestral works. The Piano Concerto No. 3, released as part of the Ansermet volume in Decca's 'Original Masters', features Julius Katchen as soloist.

Béla Bartók’s symphonic poem Kossuth stands in the shadow of his later works and is hardly ever performed. It was written when Bartók was a mere twenty-year-old and celebrates the Hungarian freedom fighter Lajos Kossuth. It is a brilliantly instrumented, fiery work of his youth, and the opportunity to get to know it is a rewarding experience.

Cornelius Meister debuted at the Hamburg State Opera at the young age of twenty-one and numbers among today’s top young conducting marvels.

Dennis Russell Davies has had a long-running and highly productive association with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra – documented on exceptional ECM recordings of repertoire from Mozart via Stravinsky and Pärt to Kancheli – and is currently the orchestra’s Conductor Laureate. Here he leads them through spirited performances of Bartók’s Divertimento, the ever popular Romanian Folk Dances, and Seven Songs (for which the orchestra is joined by the Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir).

This selection of lively Bartók pieces is viewed through the prism of Witold Lutoslawski’s Musique funèbre, written in memory of the great Hungarian composer, and first performed on the 10th anniversary of Bartók’s death. It’s an important, and moving, piece - and one which also led to international recognition for Lutoslawski, Bartók’s Polish kindred spirit.

The Divertimento for strings was Bartók’s last composition in Europe before emigrating to the US. It adapts Hungarian local colour in a manner that documents his despondency and can still cause shivers in listeners today. He was probably aware that with this work in 1939 he was not only taking leave of Europe and his traditions. He must also have sensed that Europe as he knew it was about to disappear into the darkness of history.

The least known works here are undoubtedly the Seven Songs, taken from a collection of 27 by Bartók. These choruses on folk texts were created for Kodály’s educational programme. Like the Romanian Folk Dances of 1915 (which were orchestrated a couple of years later), they are not folksong arrangements but rather original compositions “in the style of folk music”. Wolfgang Sandner comments in his booklet notes: “They reveal a personality trait that one rarely comes across to such an extent in his other compositions: serenity; one is tempted to call it a sunny disposition, not clouded by social adversity. “Hey, life, glorious life, / This is the life, the glorious life!” are the last lines of the wooing song Csujogató, and that is how Bartók’s original music sounds: joyous, beautiful and pure.”

Juno Award-winning ensemble Les Violons du Roy reveals its astonishing breadth with a new CD release, Bartók, under the baton of Associate Conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni. Best known for interpretations of baroque and classical masterpieces, Les Violons tackle Bartók’s Divertimento, Romanian Folk Dances and Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta with conviction and verve.

Bartók’s music was deeply influenced by Hungarian, Slovakian and Romanian folk music. His Romanian Folk Dances, composed in 1915, have remained his most popular work. Premiered two decades later in 1937, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is the culmination of Bartók’s long search to forge a language for art music that integrates the characteristics of the folk music of the countries of eastern Europe.

Les Violons du Roy are a Canadian national treasure. Their playing has been described as ‘Scintillating, sexy, electric, elegant, sensuous, risky, robust, just plain exciting and entertaining’ by the international press (ClassicsToday.com 10/10 – USA).

‘The Nimbus recording is full of atmosphere……… characterized powerfully and slavonically and are strongly played with obvious idiomatic feeling.' (Penguin Guide) of Concerto for orchestra and The Miraculous Mandarin