Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 1, BB48a, Sz 36

The composition dates of the two violin concertos by Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist Béla Bartók are separated by thirty years and provide a snapshot of his creative process at vastly different points in his life. The first concerto (1907–8) had a rare emotional relevance: it was dedicated to the violinist Stefi Geyer, the object of Bartók’s affections, and showcases different aspects of her personality. This two‐movement work is reminiscent of the works of Strauss and Liszt. The lamenting theme of the first movement represents Bartók’s unrequited love for Stefi, whose theme is repeated with tonal variation. This is followed by a lively second movement, with brilliant sections of arpeggios and scales, as well as whimsical leaps. The second concerto (1937) is from a time in the composer’s life when folk music had become a firm characteristic of his works, and explores more adventurous harmonies than the first. One of the great Classical and Romantic works, the neo‐Classical concerto also contains elements of Baroque and Renaissance music, giving it an historical dimension.

Highlights are the beautiful canon of the second‐movement theme and the reappearance in the third movement of the theme from the first, this time in a rousing triple‐time dance.

Internationally acclaimed violinist Thomas Zehetmair has enjoyed a remarkable career, performing and recording all over the world. He has also become equally sought‐after as a conductor and is currently Musical Director of the Northern Sinfonia (UK).

Recorded in July 1995 at the Italian Institute, Budapest.

Contains liner notes on the pieces.

Hailed as ‘the Jascha Heifetz of our day’ (The Globe and Mail, Canada), the violinist James Ehnes is widely considered one of the most dynamic and exciting performers in classical music, appearing regularly with the world’s finest orchestras and conductors. Accompanied here by the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda, Ehnes is the soloist in Bartók’s two violin concertos in which he plays the ‘Marsick’ Stradivarius of 1715, as well as in the viola concerto, performing on the ‘Rolla’ Giuseppe Guadagnini viola of 1793, on loan from the Fulton Collection.

James Ehnes said of this disc: ‘These three concertos are among the most striking examples of Bartók’s early, middle, and late periods, each showing a very different side of one of the great musical voices of all time; they are among my very favourite pieces to perform’.

Bartók wrote his first concerto for violin in 1908 for the young violinist Stefi Geyer, to whom he was romantically attached at the time, which explains the warm feelings expressed in the first movement; though the relationship ended shortly after the work’s completion, Bartók and Geyer remained on friendly terms. The composer shelved the concerto, which remained in Geyer’s possession, unperformed until two years after her death, nearly fifty years after it was written.

Violin Concerto No. 2 was commissioned by the Hungarian violinist Zoltán Székely almost thirty years after the first concerto was completed. Bartók at the time would have preferred to write an extended set of variations, but Székely maintained that, seeing as he was paying for the work, he should get what he asked for. Bartók reluctantly agreed – but later pointed out that he had had his way after all, seeing as the central movement is in variation form, and the finale works with variations of themes from the first movement.

The Viola Concerto is among the last pieces on which Bartók worked. Existing only in the form of extended sketches at the time of his death in September 1945, the work was completed by the violist and composer Tibor Serly, a fellow Hungarian and close friend of Bartók’s. Compared to earlier works by Bartók, the concerto is harmonically restrained with a melancholy quality that was always evident in his music, but which intensified in his late years.

Steinbacher’s previous release on PentaTone (Dvorak and Szymanowski Concertos PTC5186350) was very well received “Rarely has the composer’s magical ear for instrumental sonorities sounded so beguiling on disc….Steinbacher responds with playing that is both sensually alluring and headily impassioned.” The Strad. Here she brings her expertise in interpretation to the Bartók Violin Concertos.

This well-filled 2CD set – nearly 2 hours and 40 minutes long – presents Bartók’s major concertos (the Viola Concerto appears on another Eloquence CD released this month). The three Piano Concertos appear in muscular and sumptuously recorded performances (one of the finest examples of Decca’s 1970s engineering at the venerated Kingsway Hall) by Pascal Rogé and Walter Weller. Likewise, the Second Violin Concerto resurrects a long-buried 1980 Argo recording by the late Iona Brown, with none other than Sir Simon Rattle conducting. The First Violin Concerto, the result of an ultimately called-off love affair with Stefi Geyer, found its music rechannelled into the Two Portraits and in Kyung Wha Chung and Chantal Juillet, respectively, find two of the composer’s most persuasive advocates.

“Iona Brown gives a clean-cut and stylish performance, superbly recorded” Penguin Guide

The living legend: still innovative, radical and original. Pierre Boulez concludes his acclaimed Bartók Concertos project, which has received the highest accolades, with an album featuring the Viola Concerto, Violin Concerto no.1 and the Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra

For this recording, Boulez has once again gathered an extraordinary team of musicians: Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Pierre-Laurent Aimard – with his long-term recital partner Tamara Stefanovich – and two of the world’s most esteemed ensembles: the Berliner Philharmoniker and London Symphony Orchestra

DG is particularly delighted that its exclusive artist Pierre-Laurent Aimard teams up with Pierre Boulez, with whom he shares a strong artistic partnership. The combination of two such insightful musicians as Aimard and Boulez with one of the world’s great orchestras promises to be something very special

A recording that brings together some of the greatest musicians of the modern age in their admiration for the Hungarian master composer of the 20th century: Boulez’s Bartók cycle has all the ingredients to become the benchmark recording of this repertoire