CC Mixtape #34: Bartók Béla’s Night Music

“Night Music” is a term the Hungarian super-genius Béla Bartók (1881-1945) used to describe passages and sometimes entire movements in his works. There’s not a strict technical definition for “Night Music”; rather, it describes a vibe he was going for, specifically the feel of nature at night, when frogs and cicadas and owls let loose, and breezes hum through the trees. More simply put, “Night Music” describes some of his eeriest music. He began with this concept early on – the first piece here dates to 1908 – when he first emerged from his youthful Debussy and R. Strauss worship to become a distinctive voice. I would refer you to an excellent overview of the subject on Wikipedia (and while there, consider perhaps a donation to the site, one of the few non-malignant sites on the sh*t stream that is the internet…) This mixtape is, to a large extent, based on that Wikipedia entry.

Real quick: there are three different indexes of Bartok’s many compositions created by musicologists. In addition, Bartok himself assigned his works opus numbers; however, he started his listings three different times. It’s super confusing. A lot of recordings use none of the designations, which makes things even more confusing. I went with the Szőllősy index (Sz.) because it seems to be the most accepted index and because András Szőllősy was a fine composer in his own right. I also went with Hungarian performers and conductors wherever possible. A couple of these pieces are ridiculously underrepresented on in-print CDs. The Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion especially…

The frogs you’ll hear here between tracks ARE Hungarian, btw. Hungaroton issued a whole LP of different Hungarian frog calls!

0:01:43
Out of Doors (Sz. 81, 1926), No. 4: The Night’s Music
      Dénes Várjon (ECM New Series)

0:08:07
Dance Suite (Sz. 77, 1923); II. Allegro Molto
      Adám Fischer: Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra (Nimbus)

0:11:58
Bartók: String Quartet No. 3 (Sz. 85, 1927); I. Prima Parte
      Takács Quartet (London)

0:16:55
Bartók: Piano Concerto #1 (Sz. 83, 1926); II. Adagio
      Zoltán Kocsis; Iván Fischer: Budapest Festival Orchestra (Philips)

0:24:17
Bartók: 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs (Sz. 71, 1914-18);
No. 3. Poco rubato
      Jenő Jandó (Naxos)

0:25:12
Bartók: Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion (Sz. 110, 1937);
II. Lento ma non troppo
     Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (Delos)

0:31:59
Bartók: String Quartet #4 (Sz. 91, 1928); IV. Allegretto Pizzicato
      Takács Quartet (London)

0:34:52
Bartók: Five Songs, Op.15 (Sz. 61, 1916) No. 5 – “In the Valley”
      Júlia Hamari w/ János Kovács: Hungarian State Orchestra
(Hungaroton)

0:38:28
Bartók: Concerto For Orchestra (Sz. 116, 1942-5); III. Elegia
      Christoph Von Dohnányi: Cleveland Orchestra (London)

0:45:56
Bartók: Bagatelles Op. 6 (Sz. 38, 1908); No. 12 – Rubato
      Zoltan Kocsis (Philips)

0:50:27
Bartók: Music For Strings, Percussion and Celesta (Sz. 106, 1936)
      Antal Dorati: Detroit SO (London/Decca)

0:57:02
Bartók: Piano Concerto #3 (Sz. 119, 1945): II. Adagio Religioso
      Yefim Bronfman w/ Esa-Pekka Salonen: Los Angeles Philharmonic
Orchestra (Sony)

1:04:57
Bartók: String Quartet #5 (Sz. 102, 1934): III. Adagio Molto
      Takács Quartet (London)

1:11:33
Mikrokosmos (Sz. 107, 1926-39) Vol. 6; No. 144. Minor Seconds, Major Sevenths
      Jenő Jandó (Naxos)

1:16:46
Viola Concerto (Sz. 120 , 1945) (completed by Tibor Serly, 1949);
II. Adagio religioso
      Xiao Hong-Mei János Kovács: Budapest PO (Naxos)