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How Bartók Performed His Own Compositions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Marilyn M. Garst
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Extract

Performers of 20th-century music have more information about how the music is to be performed than do performers of earlier music. Since the Baroque era, composers have become more explicit in their notation, greatly simplifying questions of interpretation. In addition to the advantage of explicit notation, performers can often have personal contact with a living composer about interpretative questions. In the case of Béla Bartók, there are also recordings of the composer performing his own works. Such recordings are useful adjuncts to the musical notation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Tempo , Issue 155 , December 1985 , pp. 15 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

NOTES

1. Recordings used for study:

(1)Bartok, Liszt, and Domenico Scarlatti, Béla Bartók at the Piano (Bartók Records No. 903). Jacket notes by Edward Jablonski. Contents include works by Scarlatti, Liszt, and Bartok plus a few words by Bartok on some of the compositions.

(2) Bartók, , Bartók Plays Bartók (Turnabout/Vox Historical Series THS-65010), 1974. Two-channel rerecording from original monaural tapes. Includes the following works: Bagatelle, Op. 6, No. 2; Rondo No. 1; Petite Suite, Preludio-All'Ungherese from Nine Little Pieces; 3 selections from Mikrokosmos; Numbers 1,2,6,7, and 8 from Improvisations, Op. 20; 3 Hungarian Folk Tunes Google Scholar.

(3) Bartók, Excerpts from Mikrokosmos (Columbia ML 4419)Google Scholar. Includes 32 selections from Volumes 3,4,5, and 6.

(4) Bartók, , Excerpts from Mikrokosmos and Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet and Piano (Odyssey 32 16 0220), 1968 Google Scholar. Originally recorded in 1940. Bartók assisted in Contrasts by Joseph Szigeti, violin, and Benny Goodman, clarinet. Includes 19 selections from Volumes 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Mikrokosmos (same selections as on side 1 of Columbia ML 4419).

(5) Bartók, , Dohnanyi, , Brahms, , and Liszt, , Dohnanyi and Bartók Perform Their Own Compositions, Brahms, and Liszt (Recorded Treasures 676— the Welte legacy of Piano Treasures), 1970 Google Scholar. Includes the following works by Bartók: Rumanian Folk Dances; Evening in the Country from Ten Easy Pieces; Sonatina; Numbers 6–10, 12, 14, and 15 from Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs.

2. Suchoff, Benjamin, ‘Béla Bartók and a Guide to the Mikrokosmos’ (Doctoral dissertation, New York University, 1956), p. 46 Google Scholar.

3. Vinton, John, ‘Hints to the Printers from Bartók’, Music & Letters, XLIX/3 (07 1968), 228 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4. Dorati, Antal, ‘Bartók—an Indelible Impression’, The Long Player, 2/10 (10 1953), 14 Google Scholar.

5. Vinton, , ‘Hints to the Printers from Bartók’, p. 227 Google Scholar.

6. Szigeti, Joseph, With Strings Attached: Reminiscences and Reflections (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1947), p. 129 Google Scholar.

7. See Suchoff, , ‘Béla Bartók and a Guide to the Mikrokosmos’, pp. 59, 60, 64, 118, 120, 121, 123, and 231Google Scholar.

8. Suchoff, , ‘Béla Bartók and a Guide …’, p. 59 Google Scholar.

9. Ibid., p. 61.

10. Ibid., p. 65.

11. Ibid., pp. 153–154.

12. Ibid., p. 153.