Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble

Béla Bartók (1881-1945), Romanian Folk Dances 

Béla Bartók was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist during the first half of the 20^th century, from which time he is considered one of the most important composers. He and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hungary’s greatest composers. Through his study and founding of the field now known as “ethnomusicology”, Bartók "has empowered generations of subsequent composers to incorporate folk music and classical traditions from their culture into their compositions”.  

The work Romanian Folk Dances was written in 1915 originally for solo piano and later arranged for violin and orchestra, as well as this version by his friend Zoltán Székely for violin and piano. The music comes from original melodies and tunes from Transylvania which Bartók heard on fiddle or shepherd’s flute. Each movement displays these folk dances which are set using various “modal” scales that are a feature of the traditional music.

Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967), Duo, Op. 7 for Violin and Cello

Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, teacher and philosopher born to devoted amateur musicians, and he learned to play the piano and stringed instruments without much formal training.  He knew Hungarian folk music from his childhood, and he did much to bridge the gap between that folk music and the European art music tradition.  In 1905 he began his collaboration with Béla Bartók, collecting and transcribing folk songs.  His major orchestral works such as Háry János Suite, Dances of Marosszék, and Dances of Galánta feature these Magyar songs, and the works are often performed to this day.  Kodály also set up the principles of an educational system which was later known as the Kodály Method. It is a comprehensive approach to musicianship and is still often used around the world with all age groups.

Duo, Op. 7 for Violin and Cello was written in 1914 on the cusp of the “Great World War”.  The tensions of the time are quite apparent in this emotional work, but so is Kodály’s gift for melody which was honed by his vocal writing and his technical experience with both instruments. The opening movement is serious, as the tempo marking indicates, but with an openness and optimistic energy. The second movement opens with plaintive passages, but the work then moves on to an urgent and anguished mood which is colored by ominous agitation and icy harmonics suggesting the fearful uncertainties of the year. After a drawn-out cadenza-like introduction which anticipates something yet to come, the finale then captures much of Kodály’s Hungarian background with typical modal melodic passages and lots of rhythmic energy.

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), Tzigane for Violin and Piano

Joseph Maurice Ravel was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer. 

Tzigane for Violin and Piano is a composition for violin and piano from 1924 (later orchestrated) featuring a virtuosic violin part. The name of the piece is derived from the generic European term for “gypsy” although it does not use any authentic gypsy melodies. It was a late addition to gypsy-themed virtuoso violin music which included works by various composers beginning in the late 1870s.  Ravel's audience would also have been familiar with a style “hongrois” (Hungarian) that had suffused light music and the Parisian café scene.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist and is regarded as one of the most important composers in the history of Western music. Born in Bonn, his musical talent was recognized from an early age. His wide-ranging repertoire spans the transition from “Classical” to “Romantic” music, and many of his later works were ground-breaking in their impact on this transition. He moved to Vienna in 1792 where he spent the majority of the later years of his life.  As his hearing loss progressed through the last period of his life, the innovations in his music became more pronounced. His famous Ninth Symphony remains a masterwork and one of the most often-performed works today.  It is amazing to realize that Beethoven was totally deaf during its creation. 

The Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2 is the second of a pair of trios written in 1808 in tribute to his friend, the Hungarian Countess Anna Maria von Erdődy. In contrast to the style of the first trio which is nicknamed “the Ghost” and displays the violent and supernatural world of a proposed opera on Macbeth, this trio shows the warm humanity of the Pastoral Symphony Number 6 which was composed in the same time period. The parts are balanced in their prominence and in their contributions to the work as a whole. The finale brings the work to an exuberant close with much technical flair in all of the parts.  

Program notes by Larry Reed