Violin Sonatas Nos, 1 and 2 Gyorgy Pauk, Jend Jand6, Piano KAlmain Berkes, Clarinet Bela Bartok (1881 - 1945) Violin Sonata No. 1, Sz 75 Violin Sonata No. 2, Sz 76 Contrasts, Sz 11 1 The Hungarian composer BBla Bartok occupies, as any great composer must, a unique position, his vital musical language inimitable and at once recognisable. He was born in 1881 in Nagyszentmikl6s, in a region of later acquired by Romania, the son of the director of a government agricultural school, a talented amateur musician. After the latter's death in 1888, the family moved, settling first at Nagyszollos, later to form part of Czechoslovakia. For a time Bartok was sent away to school in ~agyvarad,where he lodged with his mother's sister. later to return to his mother and sister. when oroaress at the school seemedinadequate. He had had his first piano lessonsirom his mother and had shown significant musical interest and promise in these early years. Serious and consistent musical training, however, proved difficult until his mother found a position on the teaching staff of a teachers' training college in Pozsony, then part of Hungary and at one time its capital and now, as Bratislava, the capital of the Slovak Republic. Here Bartokstudiedwith Laszlo Erkel, a son of the distinguished Hungarian composer Ferenc Erkel, while the city itself offered opportunities for amateur performance and for hearing concerts and operas. In these years he developed his own very considerable ability as a pianist, while composing in a largely derivative style. Completion of his studies at school was followed by the decision to embark on professional musical studies not in Vienna, where a scholarship was offered, but in , following the example of his school-fellow Ern6 Dohnanyi, four years his senior. In spite of ill health, which had dogged his childhood and adolescence, Bartok was able, during his earlier years at the Budapest Academy, to devote his attention very largely to performance as a pianist, with some professional engagements. His work as acomposerwas resumed through a study of recent scores by Richard Strauss and by a growing interest in Hungarian national , a field that had remained unexplored and misunderstood bvcomposers such as Liszt, whose Hungarian ~ha1;sodie.s had relied on a more~ermanand sophisticated source than the music of the people. Bartok's early career began as a pianist, after a brief period of study with his friend Dohnanyi, with appearances in Viennaand Berlin. At the same time his first major composition, , a hero's life, based on the life of Lajos Kossuth, leader of the Hungarian revolt against Austrian suzerainty in 1848, won predictablesuccess at home. His attention as a composer, however, was now drawn to Hungarian folk-musicin all its amazing regionalvariety. Intothis he undertookconsiderable research. incollaborationwithZoltan Kodalv. Thisinterest hadanovewhelmina effect on'his composition, allowing him to hevelop, in a direction very different from that taken by Kodaly, a musical idiom that was both fundamentally Hungarian and essentially his own. Ironically it was at home that Bartok was least able to make an impression on the public as a composer. In 1907 he joined the staff of the Budapest Academy as a piano teacher, holding the position for the next thirty years, but it was only abroad that his work as a composer began to attract very considerable interest. The situation at home was not helped by the political events that followed the defeat in 1918, the consequent division of Hungarian territory, the economic difficulties of the country and the brief period of communist rule under Bela Kun, followed by the inevitable reaction, under Admiral Horthy. The proposed establishment of an archive of Hungarian folk-music under the direction of Bartok came to nothing, but he was eventually able to retain his position at the Academy, while gradually concentrating considerable attention on his career as a performer abroad, thus introducing his work to a wider audience than was ever possible in Hungary, even had general taste developed a greater degree of discrimination and interest in the contemporary. In the 1930s Bart6k was able to devote himself more consistently to the classification and publication of research material, with, in 1936, an expedition to Anatolia, in the company of the Turkish composer Adnan Saygiin, the results of which were published posthumously. Meanwhile political events in Germany had their repercussions in his own ~rofessionallife. National Socialist censorship of music in Germany and'questions about Bart6k's own racial credentials led him to forbid performances of his music in Germany, and the occupation of Austria, and consequent changes in the management and ownership of Universal Edition, Bartok's publishers and for long his supporters, made the situation still more difficult. A concert appearance in New York with Szigeti in the spring of 1940 was followed the next year by appointment as a Visiting Assistant at Columbia University, which he held for two years, until the end of 1942. Bartbk's final years were spent in deteriorating health and with some financial uncertainty, although there were commissions for new works, some of which were fulfilled, while others were either rejected or left unfinished at his death in 1945. Significantly enough, this last period in America brought one of his best known works, the for Orchestra, commissioned by Koussevitzky in memory of his wife, with the , commissioned by William Primrose, and the third piano concerto left to be completed by others. , Bartok's first sonata for violin and piano was written in 1903 and coolly received by Leopold Auer and other members of the jury of the Prix Rubinstein in Paris in 1905. The first numbered and published sonata, the Violin Sonafa No. 1, in three movements, was written in the last three months of 1921 and dedicated to the Hungarian violinist Jelly dlAranyi, great-niece of Joachim, who gave the performance of the work with him in London on 24th March 1922, followed by performance in Paris, in both places providing a very significant introduction of his work as a composer. Between July and November in the same year he wrote a second sonata for Jelly d'Aranyi, which she first performed with the composer in London on 7th May 1923. Both sonatas are highly original and often astringent in idiom, at times showing overt Hungarian influence in rhythmic figuration, the choice of certain melodic intervals and at times in mood. It was for Jelly d'Aranyi that Ravel, acomposer also fascinated by the problems of combining string timbre with the percussive qualities of the piano, wrote his Tzigane. Both Bartok's numbered violin sonatas have ambiguities of tonality, although the composer himself regarded the first as in C sharp minor and the second as in C major. The formerends, indeed, with apiano chord that combines C sharp major and C sharp minor, to which the violin adds the note B, the seventh. The first of the three movements opens with the first three notes of the chord of C sharp minor, but the piano figuration, pedalled to producesonorities reminiscent, it has been suggested, of the Indonesian gamelan, obscures this tonality, while the violin enters with a sustained C natural. There are suggestions of the influence of Schoenberg in occasional use of what might appear to be part of a series of the twelve semitones of the scale, while the device of displaced octaves, in which some of the notes of a melody may be raised or lowered an octave, may also be associated with Schoenberg. The opening gamelan-like texture, however, suggests rather the language of Debussy, echoed in an occasional suggestion of the whole-tone scale. The rhythm of the violin part, on the other hand, is often essentially Hungarian. Although this may not be at once apparent, the first movement is broadly in tripartite sonata-form, with an exposition, a central development and a recapitulation. The form of the second movement is more easily heard. It is ternary in structure with the two elements of the first section re-appearing in the third, framing acentral section that makes use of two other elements. The movement opens with the violin alone, then joined by the piano in gentle chords. There is a further passage for solo violin, joined once again by the piano. The middle section makes use of initial syncopation, followed by sharply rhythmic double stopped chords from the violin, which introduces the final section, at first with sustained chords from the piano, below a violin line that has all the feeling of an improvisation. The last movement needs less explanation, bursting upon the listener with all the vigour and energy of a Hungarian peasant dance that brings the two instruments together in mood. The second of the two sonatas has only two movements, the first allowing a dialogue between violin and piano, the latter opening with a melodic line that almost suggests recitative. A relatively harsh climax is followed by a return of this opening texture and melodic contour. The second movement continues, without any perceptible break, the violin now playing pizzicato, before both instruments embark on vigorous material owing much to Hungarian peasant music. This second movement, which is in the form of a rondo, like the third movement of the first sonata, makes use of material derived from the first movement, providing music of fascinating variety, excitement and agitation gradually subsiding into tranquillity, with a final widely-spacedchord of C major. If the combination of violin and piano presents problems in the reconciliation of timbres, the addition of aclarinet may be thought toadd afurther complication. Bartok. in Contrasts, chooses ratherto ern~hasisethe differences between the piano, the wind instrument' and the violin. Contrasts was commissioned by the American jazz clarinettist , through the agency of Szigeti. It was written in 1938 and the first performance, which included onlv the Verbunkosand the Sebes, was given in New York by Benny Goodman, Jbseph Szigeti and the pianist Endre petri in January 1939: here were subseauent oerformances and a recordina of the work made with Bart6k as the pian&. contrastswas published in 194swith a dedication to Goodman and Szigeti. The three movements of Contrasts are in the general form of Hungarian dances, as the movement titles indicate. The was familiar as a recruiting-dance employed in the recruitment of soldiers to serve in the Imperial armies. A contrasting slow movement provides repose between the outer movements, the work ending with a Sebes, a fast dance. Attention has been drawn to connections between Contrasts and the last of Bartok's six string quartets, completed in November 1939, not least in the opening clarinet melody of the Verbunkos. This first movement includes a cadenza for clarinet, while the second, Piheno" (Relaxation) includes elements reminiscent of the gamelan in the piano part and in the generally introspective mood of Bartok's music evoking the night. Sebesopens with the violinist playing on a mistuned instrument, like some village fiddler, the bottom string of the violin raised and its top string lowered a semitone. Various string techniques are used, as in the string quartets. A clarinet in A is used for the first two movements and for the gentler central section of the final Sebes, with a B flat instrument otherwise used 'h the last movement. In general the piano plays a subsidiary part in music that contrasts ~articularlvthe clarinet and violin. Bennv Goodman had oriainallv suggested a two-mdvement work, in the style of theZ~ungarianlasslj aAfriss evident in the second violin sonata, the whole to be of a length to fit two sides of a twelve-inch record. Bartok's insertion of a slow movement added further to a work that was already some four or five minutes too long. The final recording in April 1940 ran to two discs.

Gyorgy Pauk Gyorgy Pauk was born in Budapest in 1936 and had his first violin lessons at the age of five. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy and made his orchestral debut at the age of fourteen and in the 1950s won the Paganini Competition in Genoa, the Munich Sonata Competition, with the pianist Peter Frankl, and the Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris. He made his London Festival Hall debut in 1961, settling in England, his base thereafter for a distinguished international career. In addition to his command of standard solo violin repertoire Gyorgy Pauk is known for his championship of contemporary music, with first performances of works by Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Schnittke and Maxwell Davies, and for his perceptive and committed performance of the music of Bela Bart6k. He plays the 1714 Massart Stradivarius. Jeno Jando The Hungarian pianist Jeno" Jando has won a number of piano competitions in Hungary and abroad, including first prize in the 1973 Hungarian Piano Concours and a first prize in the category at the Sydney International Piano Competition in 1977. He has recorded for Naxos all the piano and sonatas of Mozart. Other recordings for the Naxos label include the concertos of Grieg and Schumann as well as Rachmaninov's Second Concerto and Paganini Rhapsody and Beethoven's complete piano sonatas.

KBlmBn Berkes The distinguished Hungarian clarinettist Kalman Berkes took his degree at the Budapest Liszt Music Academy in 1972, winning second prize at the lnternational Competition two years later and in 1975 in Munich with his Opera Wind Quintet. He has been principal clarinettist in a number of leading Hungarian orchestras, including the Hungarian State Opera, Budapest Philharmonic and Budapest Festival Orchestras and for ten years was a member of the Budapest Chamber Ensemble. In 1982 he founded his own group, the Budapest Wind Ensemble. Regular concert-tours have taken Kalman Berkes to leading European and international festivals, to Japan and to the Americas, where he has appeared with fellow musicians of distinction, including James Galway, Maurice Andre, Zoltan Kocsis, Andras Schiff and others. He has given master courses in Europe and America and holds a visiting professorship at the Musashino Music Academy in Tokyo. His recordings include releases for Hungaroton, EMI, Teldec and Decca. Bela Bartok Sonaten fur Violine und Klavier Nr. 1 und Nr. 2. Kontraste Von der unschatzbaren Bedeutung der Musik fur das nationale ~elbstverstandnisder~olker gibt die ~eschichtedes 19. Jahrhunderts zahllose Beisoiele. In RuOland. Skandinavien. Bohmen und Mahren, in Suanien und ungarn finden ~manzi~ations~rozes~estatt, die ijberall vonder heimatlichen Volksmusik ausgehen und in die Kunst eindringen, die fortan den Traum von Unabhhgigkeit und Selbstbestimmtheit traumt, ehe er politische Realitat wird. Auch BBla Bart6k hat diesen Traum schon fruh getraumt - zunachst ganz im Stile iener maavarisch anaehauchten Tonsorache, die durch die Ungarischen ~hapsodienv% Franz ~iiztweltberuhmt wurde: Die symphonische'bichtung "Kossuth" (1903) und die Rhapsodie fur Klavier und Orchester op. 1 (1904) gehoren zu den bedeutendsten Fruhwerken, deren Nahe zur gewissermaOen exotischen Farbgebung deralteren Komponisten deutlich horbar ist. Doch Bela Bartok geht weiter. Fruh schon beginnt er, nach den wirklichen Wurzeln der Volksmusik zu graben. Und er kommt dabei zu Erkenntnissen, die sich grundlegend von allen fruhen Versuchen unterscheiden. Wahrend sich einerseits die Harmonik immer weiter von den Gesetzen der klassisch- romantischenTonalitatentfernt(ohnejemalswirklich"atonal"zu werden), werden die Rhythmen und Melodien der echten Folklore zu unerhorten Antriebskraften. 1921 und 1922 entstehen unmittelbar nacheinander zwei Sonaten fur Violine und Klavier, die als Nr. 1 und Nr. 2 bezeichnet werden, weil der selbstkritische Bartokseine eigentliche erste Sonate (1903) spater nicht hat gelten lassen. Die offizielleViolinsonate Nr. 1 wird ein Jahr nach ihrervollendung zu einem wahren Erfolgsstuck: Im Fruhjahr 1922 spielt sie der Komponist zusammen mit der ungarischen Geigerin Jelly Aranyi mehrfach in England, und der Triumph ist ein allgemeiner. chin ein ~rivatkonzertsto~taufdasgroOte lnteresse der Presse, und von der offentlichen Auffuhruna in der Londoner Aeolian Hall berichten 19 Tageszeitungen; selbst konservativ~~ritikerlassensichvonder~usik hinrei~en. ~hnlichesgeschieht wenig spater in Paris, und Bela Bartok kann sich ohne Ubertreibungnichtnurals einer derbedeutendsten Komponistender Gegenwart, sondern auch als Botschafter seines Landes fuhlen. Trotz ihrer auOeren Unterschiede - die erste Sonate ist in der traditionellen Dreisatzigkeit gehalten, wahrend die zweite einen langsamen mit einern schnellen Satz verbindet: Trotz dieser Unterschiede gibt es zahlreiche Gemeinsamkeiten, deren deutlichste in den beiden sturrnischen SchluOsatzen zu finden sind. Zwar verwendet der Kornponist kein authentisches Volksliedmaterial; doch die eigenen rnelodischen Erfindungen werden in einer Artverarbeitet. die nurausder intensiven Beschaftiauna" " mit den Elementen der Volksmusik entstehen konnte. Noch auffallender werden diese "Tanze" im unmittelbaren Vergleich mit den voraufgegangenen Satzen. Beide Sonaten beginnen auOerst zart, durchsichtig und schwebend; der zweite Satz der ersten Sonate - einer der schonsten langsamen Satze, die Bartokje geschrieben hat -ist erfulltvon trauerndem Ernst; und plotzlich explodiert die Musik ... Ein Auftragswerk sind die "Kontraste" aus dem Jahre 1938, und zwar von - Benny Goodman. Dem gefeierten Jazz-Klarinettisten schwebte eine Komposition nach der Art der beiden Rhapsodien aus dem Jahre 1928 vor, die uberdies nicht Ianger sein sollte als die Spieldauer der damaligen Schellack- Platten. Und so wurde am 9. Januar 1939 die "Rhapsodie fur Klarinette, Violine und Klaviet" in der New Yorker Carnegie Hall als zweisatziges Werk mit den Abschnitten "Werbungstanz" (Verbunkos) und "Schneller Tanz" (Sebes) uraufgefuhrt. Der langsame Satz ("PihenB" = Die Rast) entstand erst nach der Premiere; als Columbia dann die vollstandige Kornposition im April 1940 rnit Bela Bartok, Benny Goodman und dem ungarischen Geiger Jozsef Szigeti aufnahm, hatten die Beteiligten auch endlich den passenden Titel "Kontraste" gefunden. Tatsachlich hike man die Musik nicht treffender bezeichnen konnen. denn hier werden die Eiaenarten der drei beteiliaten lnstrurnente seinen ganz eigenen Weg zu beschreiten: etwa im ersten Satz, wo sich die Klarinette in virtuosen Laufen ergeht, wahrend die Violine eine breite Melodie streicht und das Klavier seine trockenen Akkorde einwirft. Daneben gibt es regelrechte Gesprache, konzertante Gesten (die Solokadenzen der Klarinette im ersten und der Violine im letzten Satz) und schwungvolles Zusammenspiel - beispielsweisegegen Ende des Finales, das die individuellen KrafIe nach den voraufgegangenen, auBerordentlich zerklijfteten Satzen uber weite Strecken zu einem sturmischer~Schnelltanz bijndelt.

0 1994 Cris Posslac Bela Bartok Sonates pour violon et piano. Contrastes "Homme de contradictions, d'oppositions violentes, cruelles, ce pur solitaire, ce rnodeste, cet audacieux concilie orgueilleusernent I'ivresse de la plus ardente liberte avec la rigueur de la plus necessaire des discipline, la barbarie dechainee des natures les plus precieusement primitives avec le raffinement inoui des plus hautes temoignages de la pensee civilisee, le plus intime particularismenational avec le langageserein de laplussouveraine universalite spirituelle", ainsi le musicologue Claude Rostand, quelques mois apres la disparition de Bela Bartok en septembre 1945, brossait-il le portrait du maitre hongrois. Avec beaucoup de perspicacite comme en temoigne le parcours humain et artistique de I'artiste. Les debuts de Bela Bartok, ne le 25 mars 1881 - Brahms a alors quarante huit ans, Liszt soixante dix - s'apparentent a ceux de bien des genies musicaux. Dispositions exceptionnelles tres t6t affirmees, premieres leqons de piano avec sa mere, premier concert a dix ans. Puis Bartok etudie pendant cins ans avec L. Erkel avant d'entrer en 1899 au Conse~atoirede ~uda~est.Autrefois attire oar une carriere de ~ianistevirtuose. le ieune musicien s'oriente alors de plus en plus vers la composition. Selon tolian KodBly, c'est I'enthousiasme dans lequel le plongea la decouverte du poerne symphonique "Ainsi Parlait Zarathoustra" de Richard Strauss qui I'incitera a s'engager dans cette voie. Par ailleurs, Bartok prend conscience de la richesse du patrimoine populaire hongrois et entreprend bient6t de recenser des melodies populaires dont il affirme que chacune "est un modele de perfection artistique. La composition du poeme symphoniqueKossuth (1905) temoigne de l'emergence du sentiment national dans le langage de I'artiste. Bartok n'en oublie pas pour autant le piano. Virtuose accimpli, il devient professeur au ~once~atoirede Budapest des 1907 et, durant les annees 1920 il aura I'occasion d'inter~reterses oeuvres lors de tournees qui le font sillonner I'Europe et le menent ju4u1auxEtats-Unis. La creation a Budapest en 1918 du Chateau de Barbe-Bleuerepresente une autre grande date dans la carriere du com~ositeur.Un "PelleaS' honarois dit- on de ce chef d'oeuvre. En effet le style db Bartok ternoigne d'une vGonte de se degager de I'influence germanique et d'un intergt marque pour la rnusique franqaise, pour Claude Debussv surtout. Le Mandarin Merveilleux suivra en 1919. ~amusi~uepourpianosol~etlamusiquedecharnbreoccupent egalernent beaucoup le musicien. Apres I'Allegro Barbaro en 1920, il ecrit entre 1921 et 1922, les deux Sonates pour violon et piano. En 1927 debute la vaste entreprise des Mikrokosmosdont il achevera le 6erne et ultirne volume en 1936. Cette annee-18 nait I'une de ses plus grande partitions: IaMusiquepourCordes, Percussions et Celesta, peu de temps donc avant qu'il ne reponde a la cornmande du clarinettiste-~enny~oodrnan et de son cornpatriote ie violoniste Joseph Sziaeti en composant, en 1938, les Contrastes. Peu a~resson exil aux ~tats-~nisen 1940, l'auteur interprete d'ailleurs I'oeuvre a' Washington en cornpagnie de ces deux instrurnentistes. "Je dois partiretj'ai encore tantadire",avouera BBlaBartokasonrnedecin, peu avant qu'une leucemie ne I'emporte le 26 septernbre 1945.. En 1921, trois ans apres le Quatuor a cordes n02, Bartok entarna sa lere Sonate pour violon etpiano et la redigea en rnoins de deux rnois. Diverses influences s'exercent a cette epoque sur lui: le folklore hongrois et la musique franqaise, on I'adit, rnais aussi celle du dodecaphonisrneviennois et aboutissent a une ecriture d'un cornplexite et d'une arnbiguite rarement atteintes dans sa musique de charnbre. La lereSonateSz75sedivise en trois rnouvements. L'Allegroappassionnato initial de construction tres libre et I'Allegro final ne sont pas sans parente d'atmosphere quoique I'elernent populaire apparaisse plus affirrne dans ce dernier. Ils encadrent un Adagio ou se devine I'ernpreinte de Debussy. La 2eme Sonate Sz 76 fut composee un an apres la precedente. Plus concise, elle se divise en deux mouvements: Molto moderato, puis Allegretto. Cette oeuvre, que Bartok enregistra en compagnie de , se caracterise oar son esorit rhapsodique, renforce par I'usaqe- d'un motif populaire roumain, eid'harmodes extr~mementdenses: On a precedemment dit les conditions dans lesquelles naquirent en 1938 les Contrastes Sz 11I pour clarinette, violon et piano. II s'agit d'une oeuvre exigeante du fait de sa complexite rythmique et I'usage tres pousse qu'elle fait des possibilites techniques de la clarinette et du violon en particulier. Les Contrastes doivent I'essentiel de leur inspiration au folklore. Trois episodes les composent, deux danses vives et rythmees: Verbunkos et Sebes encadrant un episode central intitule Piheno(repos).

O 1994 Frederic Castello 20TH CENTURY MUSIC AVAILABLE ON NAXOS BARTOK Concerto for Orchestra I 8.550261 Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (Selection) 115 Hungarian Peasant Songs I 8.550451 6 Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm IOthers Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 1Contrasts 8.550749 KODALY HBry Janos Suite (+ LISZ) 8.550142 Peacock Variations IGalanta Dances IMarosszek Dances 8.550520 SHOSTAKOVICH String Quartets Nos. 4, 6 & 7 Symphonies Nos. 1 - 4,6,7, 12 & 15 [5 CD's] Symphonies Nos. 5,8 - 11,13 & 14 [6 CD's] Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 Symphonies Nos. 2 & 15 Symphony No. 4 Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9 Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9 Symphonies Nos. 6 & 12 Symphony No. 7 Symphony No. 8 Symphony No. 10 Symphony No. 10 Symphony No. 11 Symphony No. 13 Symphony No. 14 STRAVINSKY Firebird Suite I Petrushka Suite I Two Suites The Rite of Spring IJeu de cartes WOS BARTOK: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 Contrasts 8.550749