Béla Bartók Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116, BB 127 Houston Symphony Orchestra / Leopold Stokowski, Conductor 1 I. Introduzione 09:00 2 II. Giuoco delle coppie 05:54 3 III. Elegia 06:38 4 IV. Intermezzo interrotto 03:58 5 V. Finale 09:00 BARTÓK The late Béla Bartók planned his Concerto The Concerto for Orchestra belongs to for Orchestra so that each group of instru- an important group of works which Bartók CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA ments gets a chance to shine. They shine wrote during those last five tragic years with particular luminosity in this stunning in America, when he was plagued by ill- LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI new performance by a fine American orches- ness and acute poverty. It was composed in CONDUCTING THE HOUSTON tra, directed by a man famous all his life as October 1943, on a commission from the SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA an orchestral colorist and reproduced with Koussevitzky Music Foundation, established flawless realism by Everest. by the late Serge Koussevitzky in memory of his wife Natalie. The work was given its The case of Béla Bartók is a tragic one. For world premiere by the Boston Symphony years, he carried on painstaking research, in Orchestra, Koussevitzky conducting, on conjunction with his colleague and fellow December 1, 1944. On that occasion, Bartók Hungarian, Zoltan Kodaly. During that time, provided the orchestra’s program annotator, the two men unearthed, collected and made John N. Burk, with the following informa- known to the outside world the true folk tion: music of Hungary, Rumania and Yugoslavia, separating it from the influences of Gypsy “The general mood of the work repre- music, with which it had become infiltrated. sents, apart from the jesting second move- Bartók then devoted many more years to ment, a gradual transition from the first composing, teaching and concertizing as a movement and the lugubrious death-song of pianist. Not only did he make extensive use the third, to the life assertion of the last one. of the folk idiom in his music but he also wrote in a vigorous, highly original style that “The tide of this symphony-like orches- is only now finding ready acceptance. tral work is explained by its tendency to treat single instruments or instrument groups in Bartók came to live in New York in 1940. a ‘concertant’ or soloistic manner. The ‘vir- Not long afterwards, he contracted a seri- tuoso’ treatment appears, for instance, in the ous illness from which he never fully recov- fugato sections of the development of the ered. At the time of his death five years later, first movement (brass instruments), or in the he left a vast treasury of music, much of it ‘perpetuum mobile’-like passage of the prin- great. But Bartók never received the recog- cipal theme in the last movement (strings), nition he deserved. Not until after his death and especially in the second movement, in did the world of music come to realize what which pairs of instruments consecutively a magnificent and vital creative artist it had appear with brilliant passages. lost. Even now, new compositions of his are being brought to light. It is reasonably safe to “As for the structure of the work, the first say – probably safer than in the cases of most and fifth movements are written in a more or of our modern composers – that the music of less regular sonata form. The development Bartók will stand out in future generations as of the first fugato contains sections for brass; a representative, forceful contribution of the the exposition in the finale is somewhat twentieth century. extended, and its development consists of a fugue built on the last theme of the exposi- tion. Less traditional forms are found in the of age.” Efrem Kurtz served as conductor for second and third movements. The main part six seasons. There followed two seasons of of the second consists of a chain of independ- guest conductors, with Sir Thomas Beecham ent short sections, by wind instruments con- leading ten concerts during 1954 and 1955. secutively introduced in five pairs (bassoons, Since 1955, the orchestra has been under oboes, clarinets, flutes and muted trumpets). the inspired guidance of Leopold Stokowski, Thematically, the five sections have nothing who has enlarged and perfected the ensem- in common. A kind of trio – a short chorale ble and increased the scope of its activities. for brass instruments and side-drum follows, A brilliant interpreter of the standard reper- after which the five sections are recapitu- toire, Stokowski is always eager to let audi- lated in a more elaborate instrumentation. ences hear the finest contemporary music, as The structure of the fourth movement is also well. He has infused the orchestra with his chain-like; three themes appear successively. own unique rich brand of tone color. Long These constitute the core of the movement, an experimenter in the forefront of recorded which is enframed by a misty texture of rudi- sound, he also makes certain that the playing mentary motifs. Most of the thematic mate- he elicits from his musicians will be repro- rial of this movement derives from the ‘intro- duced as faithfully as possible. As the sound duction’ to the first movement. The form of of this recording will attest, he has the whole- the fourth movement ‘intermezzo interrotto’ hearted support of Everest’s unsurpassed could be rendered by the letter symbols A B engineering and recording technique. A – Interruption – B A.” Original Liner Notes The score of the Concerto for Orchestra calls for three flutes, piccolo, three oboes, English horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, contra-bassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, ket- tledrums, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, tambourine, triangle, tarn-tam, two harps and strings. In point of years and the age of most of its players; the Houston Symphony Orchestra is one of the youngest of the nation’s major symphonic organizations, yet it ranks high among the leading orchestras of the land. Though it can trace its ances- try back to 1913, the present orchestra was established in 1930 and presented its first full season the following year. Uriel Nespoli and Frank St. Leger were the first conduc- tors, after which Ernst Hoffmann led the orchestra for eleven years until 1947. Under his direction, the Houston Symphony “came Some notes on the history of Everest Below is a graphic representation of this new sprocket gears engage these sprocket holes BELOCK Recording studios is utilized for Records and the digital remastering material. What you see here, your ears will affording a smoothness of motion that reduces recordings made anywhere in the world. By quickly verify when you listen to an EVER- “wow and flutter” to an absolute minimum. utilizing specially designed portable versions When Everest Records was founded by Harry EST recording. The film has another advantage in its great of EVEREST 35 mm equipment, EVEREST Belock in 1958 as a division of Belock Instru- tensile strength which effectively eliminates engineers are able to make recordings and ment Corp., the aim was to produce a cata- Notice that now EVEREST engineers have pitch changes due to “tape stretch”, a condi- maintain the rigid standards and excellence logue of stereo recordings of the highest pos- over 3 times the normal space available tion heretofore almost impossible to control. of quality available in the Studios. sible technical standard, with interesting and [than] on ¼” tape. This means distortion free, innovative classical repertoire played by some perfect sound. 35 mm magnetic film allows Drawing on the extensive experience in the The advanced engineering and special equip- of the best artists and orchestras. EVEREST engineers to make recordings with motion picture sound field BELOCK INSTRU- ment, in addition to meticulous attention MENT (of which EVEREST is a division), to detail, results in the EVEREST sound, a For the first Everest recording sessions in • No distortion from print through requested Westrex Corporation to build spe- sound that has been acclaimed as superb by 1958, an Ampex 300-3 half-inch three- • No distortion from lack of channel width cial equipment to EVEREST’S exacting critics and record enthusiasts throughout the channel recorder was used. Later on the label • Absolute minimum of “wow or flutter” specifications in order to accomplish these world. moved to use a Westrex 35 mm 3-track mag- • Highest possible signal to noise ratio advantages. This equipment includes the use netic film recorder, which had a wider possible • Greatest quality and dynamic range ever of special recording heads which afford com- dynamic range, less print-through, less tape recorded plete wide band frequency response beyond stretch and less ‘wow and flutter’, and which that normally specified in any present-day was the basis for the highly acclaimed typical motion picture recording. It is of interest to Executive Producer: Mark Jenkins for Countdown “Everest-sound”. With 35 mm magnetic film, the base mate- note, that when soundtracks of great motion Media/Everest • Digital Remastering: Bernie rial on which the magnetic oxide is coated pictures originally recorded on 35 mm mag- Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, CA, from the original analog tapes • For the process of digital remastering of the is five times thicker than conventional tape netic film are released as phonograph records, Digital Transfers: Scott Sedillo for Bernie Grundman 35 mm master tapes the original Westrex and is similar to the film used for motion pic- that normal technique is to re-record the Mastering and Len Horowitz for History of 1551 machine was used for analog playback tures. This thickness permits the recording of sound from 35 mm magnetic film to conven- Recorded Sound • Additional Restoration Work using modified new playback electronics and extremely high sound intensities without the tional tape.