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Bartok: Sonatas & Folk Dances / James Ehnes
Chandos

Bartok: Sonatas & Folk Dances / James Ehnes

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Details

Composer
BARTOK, BELA
Artist
Ehnes, Armstrong
Format
CD
Label
Chandos
Released
Jan 29, 2013
Catalog #
CHAN 10752
UPC
095115175224

About

Decades before World Music became an established category, Béla Bartók was roaming the Eastern European countryside, collecting folk tunes with fellow composer Zoltan Kodaly. He snapped up songs from his native Hungary, but also toted his phonograph on tune-gathering trips to Romania, Slovakia and Turkey. He spent much of 1943 on a research fellowship at Columbia University transcribing Serbo-Croatian folk songs.

As violinist James Ehnes and pianist Andrew Armstrong demonstrate on this new recording, Bartók fashioned some vibrant and colorful arrangements from his folk journeys.

Ehnes has been a familiar face in New York lately; last summer, he performed on a New York Philharmonic broadcast from Van Cortlandt Park and also made a stop for a WQXR Café Concert. He’s been busy in the recording studio too; this wraps a three-part Bartók cycle.

The three sets of folk songs on this recording illustrate how Bartók embraced the tangy exotic modes and wild irregular rhythms of the countryside, which freed him from "the tyranny of major and minor scales," as he put it. Two sets of Hungarian Folks Songs features some jaunty dialogues with the piano and some added effects – pizzicato, harmonics – to make a splash. The Romanian Folk Dances ratchet up the momentum further, particularly in the final “Polka” and the rollicking “Fast Dance.”

The sonatas offer a striking contrast but there's much to admire here too. A Bach-like grandeur underscores the unaccompanied Sonata (1944), written in the in the final months of Bartók's life for Yehudi Menuhin, and yet more traces of Hungarian folk melodies turn up in the Violin Sonata in E minor, written a half-century earlier.

-- WQXR, Album of the Week [1/20/2013]

Tracklist 29 tracks

  1. 1 I. Tempo di ciaccona 09:06
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Tempo di ciaccona
    Duration
    09:06
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes
  2. 2 II. Fuga: Risoluto, non troppo vivo 04:18
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Fuga: Risoluto, non troppo vivo
    Duration
    04:18
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes
  3. 3 III. Melodia: Adagio 07:13
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Melodia: Adagio
    Duration
    07:13
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes
  4. 4 IV. Presto 05:05
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Presto
    Duration
    05:05
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes
  5. 5 I. Allegro moderato (molto rubato) 09:39
    Track
    5
    Title
    I. Allegro moderato (molto rubato)
    Duration
    09:39
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  6. 6 II. Andante 10:52
    Track
    6
    Title
    II. Andante
    Duration
    10:52
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  7. 7 III. Vivace 09:31
    Track
    7
    Title
    III. Vivace
    Duration
    09:31
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  8. 8 No. 1. Andante - Un poco più lento (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 34) 01:30
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 1. Andante - Un poco più lento (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 34)
    Duration
    01:30
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  9. 9 No. 2. Allegretto (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 36) 00:28
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 2. Allegretto (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 36)
    Duration
    00:28
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  10. 10 No. 3. Lento, ma non troppo (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 17) 01:17
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 3. Lento, ma non troppo (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 17)
    Duration
    01:17
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  11. 11 No. 4. Allegro (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 31) 00:59
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 4. Allegro (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 31)
    Duration
    00:59
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  12. 12 No. 5. Lento, poco rubato (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 16) 01:35
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 5. Lento, poco rubato (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 16)
    Duration
    01:35
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  13. 13 No. 6. Allegretto (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 14) 00:26
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 6. Allegretto (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 14)
    Duration
    00:26
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  14. 14 No. 7. Allegretto, scherzando (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 19) 00:34
    Track
    14
    Title
    No. 7. Allegretto, scherzando (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 19)
    Duration
    00:34
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  15. 15 No. 8. Sostenuto - Allegro - Adagio (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 8) 01:18
    Track
    15
    Title
    No. 8. Sostenuto - Allegro - Adagio (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 8)
    Duration
    01:18
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  16. 16 No. 9. Allegro robusto (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 21) 00:59
    Track
    16
    Title
    No. 9. Allegro robusto (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 21)
    Duration
    00:59
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  17. 17 No. 1. Parlando (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 28) 01:05
    Track
    17
    Title
    No. 1. Parlando (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 28)
    Duration
    01:05
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  18. 18 No. 2. Andante non molto (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 18) 00:54
    Track
    18
    Title
    No. 2. Andante non molto (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 18)
    Duration
    00:54
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  19. 19 No. 3. Allegro vivace (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 42) 01:33
    Track
    19
    Title
    No. 3. Allegro vivace (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 42)
    Duration
    01:33
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  20. 20 No. 4. Andante sostenuto (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 33) 01:32
    Track
    20
    Title
    No. 4. Andante sostenuto (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 33)
    Duration
    01:32
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  21. 21 No. 5. Allegro (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 6) 00:40
    Track
    21
    Title
    No. 5. Allegro (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 6)
    Duration
    00:40
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  22. 22 No. 6. Andante (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 13) 00:54
    Track
    22
    Title
    No. 6. Andante (arr. of For Children, Vol. 1, No. 13)
    Duration
    00:54
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  23. 23 No. 7. Poco vivace (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 38) 00:56
    Track
    23
    Title
    No. 7. Poco vivace (arr. of For Children, Vol. 2, No. 38)
    Duration
    00:56
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  24. 24 No. 1. Jocul cu bata (Stick Dance) 01:13
    Track
    24
    Title
    No. 1. Jocul cu bata (Stick Dance)
    Duration
    01:13
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  25. 25 No. 2. Braul (Sash Dance) 00:26
    Track
    25
    Title
    No. 2. Braul (Sash Dance)
    Duration
    00:26
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  26. 26 No. 3. Pe loc (In One Place) 00:58
    Track
    26
    Title
    No. 3. Pe loc (In One Place)
    Duration
    00:58
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  27. 27 No. 4. Buciumeana (Horn Dance) 01:17
    Track
    27
    Title
    No. 4. Buciumeana (Horn Dance)
    Duration
    01:17
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  28. 28 No. 5. Poarga Romaneasca (Romanian Polka) 00:30
    Track
    28
    Title
    No. 5. Poarga Romaneasca (Romanian Polka)
    Duration
    00:30
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
  29. 29 No. 6. Maruntel (Fast Dance) 00:55
    Track
    29
    Title
    No. 6. Maruntel (Fast Dance)
    Duration
    00:55
    Composer
    Béla Bartók
    Performer
    James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong