Bartók Violin and Piano Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Béla Bartók
Label: Praga
Magazine Review Date: 10/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 60
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: PR250 038
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| For Children, Movement: Allegro vivace |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer David Oistrakh, Violin Frida Bauer, Piano |
| For Children, Movement: Andante non troppo |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer David Oistrakh, Violin Frida Bauer, Piano |
| For Children, Movement: Parlando |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer David Oistrakh, Violin Frida Bauer, Piano |
| For Children, Movement: Andante sostenuto |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer David Oistrakh, Violin Frida Bauer, Piano |
| For Children, Movement: (not detailed) |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer David Oistrakh, Violin Frida Bauer, Piano |
| Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer David Oistrakh, Violin Frida Bauer, Piano |
| Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer Gidon Kremer, Violin Oleg Maisenberg, Piano |
Author:
Bartok's two mature violin sonatas emerged during one of the most exciting and richly productive periods in twentieth-century culture; in fact, their debut was more or less contemporaneous with the appearances of Joyce's Ulysses, Wittgenstein's Tractatus and Eliot's The Waste Land. And it's that potent feeling of exploration and unresolved mystery that even to this day marks both works as perennially 'avant-garde'. Bartok knew well how to pit dissonance against harmony so as to make his musical argument seem permanently provocative.
Current competition notwithstanding, these particular performances demand special pleading. Firstly, they are hugely involving, with Oistrakh and Bauer breaking the natural bounds of their native propriety for fire-and-brimstone excitement, and the Kremer/Maisenberg partnership attending to every episode with questioning insight. Of the two pianists, Maisenberg exhibits the greater daring, Bauer the greater control, while Kremer's tonal range is more comprehensive than the relatively urbane Oistrakh—although by this late stage of his career, Oistrakh's tone had developed a hoarse, rasping edge that at times sounds positively Heifetzian. Both violinists can be heard in alternative readings of their chosen sonatas, but the present release has a spur-of-the-moment spontaneity that will doubtless seduce all lovers of live music-making.
Still, there are faults to consider. Firstly Oistrakh's appealing (but occasionally off-colour) 'encores' are not what Praga say they are. According to the booklet, Oistrakh and Bauer play three of Joseph Szigeti's Hungarian Folksong arrangements based on as many items from Bartok's educational piano work, For Children—Nos. 6, 13 and 18, all from Book 1. What they in fact offer are five Book 1 items: Nos. 28, 18, 42, 33 and 38, in that order. Also, there is the occasional intrusion of electronic crackling, such as we hear 3'55'' into the first movement of the First Sonata. However, neither consideration will dissuade the committed collector from experiencing what is in all other respects an urgent and compelling production.'
Current competition notwithstanding, these particular performances demand special pleading. Firstly, they are hugely involving, with Oistrakh and Bauer breaking the natural bounds of their native propriety for fire-and-brimstone excitement, and the Kremer/Maisenberg partnership attending to every episode with questioning insight. Of the two pianists, Maisenberg exhibits the greater daring, Bauer the greater control, while Kremer's tonal range is more comprehensive than the relatively urbane Oistrakh—although by this late stage of his career, Oistrakh's tone had developed a hoarse, rasping edge that at times sounds positively Heifetzian. Both violinists can be heard in alternative readings of their chosen sonatas, but the present release has a spur-of-the-moment spontaneity that will doubtless seduce all lovers of live music-making.
Still, there are faults to consider. Firstly Oistrakh's appealing (but occasionally off-colour) 'encores' are not what Praga say they are. According to the booklet, Oistrakh and Bauer play three of Joseph Szigeti's Hungarian Folksong arrangements based on as many items from Bartok's educational piano work, For Children—Nos. 6, 13 and 18, all from Book 1. What they in fact offer are five Book 1 items: Nos. 28, 18, 42, 33 and 38, in that order. Also, there is the occasional intrusion of electronic crackling, such as we hear 3'55'' into the first movement of the First Sonata. However, neither consideration will dissuade the committed collector from experiencing what is in all other respects an urgent and compelling production.'
Bartók Violin and Piano Works
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