I remember being ‘frightened’ at the very name of
Bartók when I was young, along with the names of Mahler,
Schoenberg, Berg and others who simply sounded ‘difficult’.
What could have possessed me to think that while having no problem
at the prospect of Beethoven, Brahms or Sibelius? I’ve
no idea but that’s children for you! Well if anyone had
played me track 10 of this disc I’m sure any such thoughts
would have vanished; this is easy on the ear but then most of
Bartók’s output is like that - ok the string quartets
may be a bit too complex for children’s ears but the exception
once again proves the rule.
This disc is the sixth in the cycle of Bartók’s
complete piano music played by Jenő Jandó. I love
these works and never tire of hearing them, even those some
might categorise as banal like tracks 10-27 which really are
simple children’s pieces. He wrote a lot of such little
miniatures, but it is the very simplicity that is so appealing
to me; small can be beautiful in music as well as in anything
else and complexity doesn’t necessarily imply that something
is good either. The first work on the disc, whilst also being
very lyrical and approachable, is an extremely tough challenge
for pianists. I was surprised to learn from the liner-notes
that the work has never found much acceptance - I can’t
understand why as it’s a lovely sounding work that was
dedicated by Bartók to his teacher at the Academy in
Budapest, Professor Thomán, who also taught Dohnányi.
It is uncharacteristic of Bartók, sounding much more
like Rachmaninov or Scriabin to me, but it was an early
work, written in 1903 when the composer was only 22; the same
year that both the abovementioned composers wrote preludes and
etudes that to me sound so similar in style and sound-world.
The romantic nature continues with Fantasy 1 dedicated
to Emma Gruber, a onetime pupil of counterpoint with Bartók
who, after leaving her husband, went on to marry Kodály.
Fantasy 2, dedicated to two girls he knew in his home
town, is again in the same vein, short but very sweet. Perhaps
the fact that there is no influence of folk music in these pieces,
which is something we are used to in the music of Bartók,
accounts for it sounding unlike what we expect to hear. This
is not the case, however, in the Scherzo, which Bartók
dedicated to his friend Dohnányi and which abounds in
folk references. Track 5 is a piano transcription of the last
two sections of his 1903 orchestral work Kossuth, named
after the hero of the Hungarian insurrection of the late 1840s
and is as serious in nature as its subtitle “marche funèbre”
implies and is Lisztian in flavour. Tracks 6 and 7 are arrangements
of two song transcriptions which Bartók made in 1905
but for some reason remained unpublished until as late as 1965!
These two little pieces known as Petits morceaux are
delightful miniatures whose folk origins are hinted at throughout.
The Two Elegies for Piano are a product of Bartók’s
newly developed economy of expression, though still with Lisztian
overtones. The liner-notes explain that they were not played
for another decade after they were written, around 1908, when
audiences may have considered them somewhat outdated following
the premiere of his only opera Bluebeard’s Castle
but they are lovely pieces of delicately constructed and beautifully
flowing lines. As explained at the beginning, the cycle of children’s
pieces First Term at the Piano are tiny miniatures that
children would have found easy in their early studies but are
worthy on their own terms and help dispel any notions that this
great Hungarian composer wrote “difficult” music.
This disc is another welcome addition to the complete piano
series and Jandó is, as always, a highly intelligent
and convincing interpreter.
Steve Arloff
Reviews of other releases in this series
Track listing
Four Piano Pieces
No.1: Study for the Left Hand (to István Thomán)
[10:42]
No.2: Fantasy 1 (to Emma Gruber) [5:09
No.3: Fantasy 2 (to Emsy and Irmy Jurkovics) [3:47]
No.4: Scherzo (to Ern Dohnányi) [8:51]
Tableau 10 (from Kossuth), BB31: Marche funèbre
[4:22]
Petits morceaux
No.1: Adagio, BB37, No.2 (Add ream csókodat, el kell
már búcsúznom - Kiss me, for I have to
say farewell) [2:43]
No.2: Moderato, BB24, No.1 (Őszi szellő - Autumn Breeze)
[1:18]
Two Elegies for Piano
No.1: Grave [7:25]
No.2: Molto adagio sempre rubato [8:12]
Kezdők zongoramuszikája (First Term at the
Piano)
No.1: Moderato [0:39]
No.2: Moderato [0:43]
No.3: Párbészed (Dialogue): Moderato [0:31]
No.4: Párbészed (Dialogue): Moderato [0:40]
No.5: Moderato [0:39]
No.6: Moderato [1:08]
No.7: Népdal (Folksong): Moderato [0:55]
No.8: Andante [1:01]
No.9: Andante [0:47]
No.10: Népdal (Folksong: Erzsi Virág - Made her
bed): Allegro [1:14]
No.11: Menuett: Andante [0:47]
No.12: Kanasztánc (Swineherd’s dance): Allegro
[1:29]
No.13 Hol jártál, báránykám
- népdal (Where have you been my lambkin - Folksong):
Andante [0:52]
No.14: Andante [1:01]
No.15: Lakodalmas (Wedding Dance): Moderato [0:32]
No.16: Paraszttanc (Peasant’s Dance): Allegro moderato
[0:19]
No.17: Allegro deciso [0:30]
No.18: Keringo (Waltz): Tempo de valse [0:37].
Jenő Jandó (piano) 
