Bela Bartok

BELA BARTOK (1881-1945)
Hungarian composer and pianist

Bela Bartok, one of the great pilars of 20th century music, was a phenomenal pianist. Most of the recordings below are of the composer playing his own music.

However, we have several examples of Bartok playing works for piano by other composers, and there are some real surprises here. His Scarlatti is extraordinary, the fragment we have of his playing of the Chopin Nocturne is transcendental, and the prize is the most amazing performance of the Brahms B minor Capriccio that I know.

There are some examples of Bela Bartok performing chamber works as well. If you listen to anything, listen to the first movement from the first Debussy violin sonata and try imagine him playing Debussy's Preludes, if you dare.

And finally, Bela Bartok himself speaking in a radio interview from 1944.

Bartók from Two Romanian Folk Dances (1910), Op 8a
1 Allegro vivace

recorded in 1929

Bartók Allegro Barbaro (1911) Sz 49, BB 63

Bartók Sonatina (1915) Sz 55, BB 69

Bartók Romanian Folk Dances (1915) Sz 56, BB 68
1 Jocul cu bata - 2 Braul - 3 Pe loc - 4 Buciumeana - 5 Poarga romaneasca

Bartók Suite (1916), Op 14, Sz 62, BB 70
i Allegretto - ii Scherzo - iii Allegro molto - iv Sostenuto

recorded in 1929

Bartók from Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz 71, BB 79
7-10, 12, 14-15 Regi tancdalok (Old Dance Tunes)

Bartók
5 "Evening in Transylvania" from Ten Easy Piano Pieces
6 "Ballada" from Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs

Bartók from Ten Easy Piano Pieces, BB 51
5 Evening in Transylvania
10 Bear Dance

Bartók Petite Suite Sz 105, BB 113

Bartók from Mikrokosmos Volume IV, Sz 107, BB 105
97 Notturno

recorded in 1940

Bartók from Mikrokosmos Volume V, Sz 107, BB 105
125 Boating - 126 Change of Time - 128 Peasant Dance - 129 Alternating Thirds - 130 Village Joke
131 Fourths - 133 Syncopation - 136 Whole-Tone Scale - 138 Bagpipe - 139 Merry Andrew

recorded in 1940

Bartók from Mikrokosmos Volume VI, Sz 107, BB 105

recorded in 1940

140 Free Variations - 141 Subject and Reflection
142 From the Diary of a Fly - 143 Divided Arpeggios - 144 Minor Seconds, Major Sevenths

Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (148-153), dedicated to Harriet Cohen

Bartók Hungarian Folk Songs
Mária Besilides, soprano - Béla Bartók, piano

18 "Kádár Kata"

7 "Cockricoo!"

8 Zoltán Kodály The heartless wife A rossz feleség

Bartók Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Sz 110, BB 115
Bela Bartok, Ditta Pásztory-Bartók, pianos - Henry Baker, Edward Rubsam, percussion

recorded in 1940

i Assai lento - Allegro molto

ii Lento, ma non troppo

iii Allegro non troppo

Bartok from Seven Pieces for Two Pianos from Mikrokosmos, Sz 108, BB 120
Bela Bartok, Ditta Pásztory-Bartók, pianos

Bartók-Szigeti Hungarian Folk Tunes (For Children)
28 Parlando - 18 Andante non molto - 42 Allegro vivace
33 Andante sostenuto - 6 Allegro - 13 Andante - 38 Poco vivace
Joseph Szigeti, violin - Béla Bartók, piano

recorded in 1940