KVR Audio

thomekk · Post by **thomekk** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:14 am

Me loving the Bela too!!
Especially some certain String-Things I have on vinyl only ( it's chamber music, but I think he didn't write symphonies, right?)

Chuck E. Jesus · Post by **Chuck E. Jesus** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:15 am

the only Bartok i own is "Concerto for Orchestra", i like it very much (haven't heard it in years though, buried with my LPs...)...

Voidoid Surrealist · Post by **Voidoid Surrealist** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:27 am

Gypsies play their folk music. .
Gypsies hear Bartok's interpretations, and then reinterpret it back to their folk music:

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:45 am

Sort of the original "world music".

mellotronaut · Post by **mellotronaut** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:57 am

herodotus wrote: Today it is becoming more and more obvious that Schoenberg Berg and Webern, for all their undoubted talent, were not a beginning but an ending. The rhythmic focus of Bartok and Stravinsky made them much more in line with what music has become than any of the 'Second Viennese School'. And Stravinsky, for all of his talent, could not match Bartok's intensity. Late Stravinsky is charming, but unremarkable compared to works like The Rite of Spring. Bartok's work, on the other hand, never lost it's youthful fire. His last works: The 6th quartet, the Concerto for Orchestra, and the 3rd Piano Concerto, are all major works, filled with the sort of energy most people can't even summon in their youth.

and

Pantsdown666 wrote:I think what's also important about Stravinsky and Bartok is that they both looked far outside classical music into other forms of music, rather than intellectualising around the boundaries of defining classical music itself, like the 2nd Viennese school. This is probably why their resonance has carried through into this century ..

I remember searching out Bartok-related material in a library in Berlin about 20 years ago, and I came to a (vinyl) section of Hungarian folk musics, recorded in the earlier half of the century. It was a series where they'd tried to capture some disappearing forms of folk musics. Sound recordist ? Bela Bartok.
Borrowed them and listened through - you could echoes of the (later) string quartets in there ...

In response to an interviewer's question concerning his favorite composers, Stravinsky once replied "The three B's...Bach, Beethoven and Brown — James Brown." According to Hal Neely, former president of King Records, Stravinsky went on to say that James Brown should be considered one of the greatest composers of all time, that he was writing "truly American music and portraying the American heritage."

Guys, you make my morning so sweet!

m

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:22 pm

Well, I decided to go for the Emerson Quartet's version of the quartets, and am VERY happy with their version

mellotronaut · Post by **mellotronaut** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:40 pm

Good choice ... i'll buy the 'Takacs Quartet' - version, when i'm in Belgium this summer.

chrimel

Rune · Post by **Rune** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:57 pm

Thought I'd mention this:

soulata · Post by **soulata** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:14 am

hmmm ...

which versions of quartets do you suggest for the newcomers?

k

Hovmod · Post by **Hovmod** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:28 am

Voidoid Surrealist wrote:Gypsies play their folk music. .
Gypsies hear Bartok's interpretations, and then reinterpret it back to their folk music:

This album is great for that kind of comparisons - awesome authentic recordings and Bartok interpretations. Fatastic album.

http://www.amazon.com/Bart%C3%B3k-Album ... 51&sr=1-35

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:45 am

soulata wrote:hmmm ...

which versions of quartets do you suggest for the newcomers?

k

There seem to be several that are very highly regarded...

I picked the Emerson one because [1] it is SO highly aclaimed (it won prizes, etc) and [2] it is considered a slightly more "romantic" interpretation than some (and hence more approachable for the newcomer perhaps).

The Alban Berg Quartet's recording for example is considered very good but much colder in its approach.

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:46 am

Hovmod wrote: This album is great for that kind of comparisons - awesome authentic recordings and Bartok interpretations. Fatastic album.

http://www.amazon.com/Bart%C3%B3k-Album ... 51&sr=1-35

Thanks for the link - that looks like a really interesting CD

Voidoid Surrealist · Post by **Voidoid Surrealist** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:03 am

headquest wrote:
Hovmod wrote: This album is great for that kind of comparisons - awesome authentic recordings and Bartok interpretations. Fatastic album.

http://www.amazon.com/Bart%C3%B3k-Album ... 51&sr=1-35
Thanks for the link - that looks like a really interesting CD

I don't have that one yet, but I've got a few of the other albums Muzsikás and Márta Sebestyén did together, and they're (IMO) the very best Hungarian folk group around.
The Ökrös Ensemble is also worth tracking down, if you're into this sort of thing.

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 4:54 am

Anyone who things string quartets are for elevator music ought to listen to the Bartok Quartets because they are really something else.

I would have to agree with headquest and pantsdown and the rest of the bartok fans here - some years back I saw a ballet performed to the Music for Strings Percussion and Celeste piece and it knocked my socks off. Thanks to aMUSEd for the tip on Kodaly's cello music - will have to check it out.

In praise of Bela Bartok