Béla Bartók: Hungarian Pictures, Sz. 97, BB 103 For Hungarian Pictures, Bartók chose five movements from piano series he composed between 1908 and 1911, arranged them for orchestra and fused them into a new cycle. He completed the composition in 1931. He preserved the material of the original piano pieces, and also sought to keep the melodic element emphatic. An Evening in the Village and Bear Dance were first published in the Ten Easy Pieces, Melody came from Four Dirges, Slightly Tipsy from Three Burlesques, and the Swineherd’s Dance (the only arrangement of folk music in the cycle) was a part of For Children. The five pieces make for a series rich in contrasts, with two scherzo movements flanking a lament (the third movement), so it is easy to recognise in this arrangement the characteristic silhouette of Bartók’s much-loved bridge form. Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2, BB 101 In February 1939, Bartók provided a short description of Piano Concerto No. 2 for the programme guide of a Lausanne concert, where he was the soloist and Ernest Ansermet was the conductor: “I wrote my first piano concerto in 1926. I consider it a successful work, though its structure is slightly – or perhaps, fairly – difficult, both for the orchestra and the audience. This was why a few years later, in 1930–31, I wanted to offer a pendant with Piano Concerto No. 2, with less challenge for the orchestra, and more attractive thematic material. This intention accounts for the more popular and lighter character of most themes in the piece. Sometimes its lightness may even bring in mind some of my youthful works.” This last assertion may have served to allay the fears his contemporary audience may have held about modern works, and as for the difficulty of the piano solo, Bartók understates the case here too: the solo material is perhaps even more demanding than that of Piano Concerto No. 1. The concerto has a very unique orchestration: the orchestra of the first movement comprises winds and percussion; the Adagio has strings and timpani; the scherzo, which is like an intermezzo, is played on strings and a group of winds and percussion, and only the third movement avails itself of the full orchestra.
5
