Classical Music | Music for Trio

Recorded on 10/31/2012, uploaded on 04/09/2013

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

I.             Verbunkos (Recruiting Dance)

II.             Pihenő (Relaxation)

III.             Sebes (Fast Dance)

Bartók's only trio and only chamber work with a wind instrument, Contrasts was composed in response to a request by the Hungarian violinist Josef Szigeti and was officially commissioned by the "King of Swing", American clarinetist Benny Goodman in 1938. This work is indeed an exploration of contrasts – between the instruments (wind/string/keyboard), wide variety of moods, and huge ranges in dynamics and tempi. Various Hungarian and Romanian dance melodies are also incorporated throughout the work. The Hungarian recruitment dance Verbunkos was commonly played at military recruiting events to entice young men to join the army.  As Szigeti requested Bartók write solo cadenzas for both clarinet and violin, the first movement ends with a solo clarinet cadenza with quite an improvisational feel to the writing, very likely with Goodman's jazz background in mind.

The second movement titled Pihenö (“relaxation” in Hungarian) stays true to the title of the work with contrasting moods, tempi and dynamics. The third movement is a traditional Hungarian fast dance, Sebes.  The slower section in the middle of the movement is written in the dizzying time signature of 3+2+3+2+3/8, which comes from a Bulgarian folk rhythm that contains compound meters.  Szigeti gets his wish in this last movement with a virtuosic violin solo cadenza that ignites the fire to begin an exciting rush to the dramatic ending of the whole work.

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.