Bela Bartók:
- Violin Concertos Numbers 1 and 2
Violinist Isabelle Faust returns to the music of Bela Bartok, performing the two concertos, accompanied by Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In today’s concert halls, Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto (1937-38) has virtually eclipsed the first concerto, written 30 years before. Yet, this earlier work has a fascinating story all of its own. Isabelle Faust has gone back to the multiple musical sources of this First Concerto, a work that came ‘straight from the heart’, as Bartók’s romance with a young violinist lay at the core of its creative process.
On this CD, we get to hear both concertos:
Bartók:
- Violin Concerto No. 1, BB48a, Sz 36
- Violin Concerto No. 2, Sz 112
Performed by Isabelle Faust (violin), with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Harding.
Isabelle Faust explains that:
“I owe my enthusiasm for the music of Béla Bartók to the wonderful Hungarian violinist Dénes Zsigmondy, who was privileged to know the composer personally. At the age of eleven, I was lucky enough to study the Sonata for solo violin with him and thus to discover Bartók’s world in a very emotional and instinctive way. In the years since then, Dénes Zsigmondy, his conception of music, and especially his interpretation of Bartók have formed an important component of my artistic career…”
Here is Ms. Faust, who explains this music to us, and also illustrates from one of her recordings:
And next, here are Isabelle Faust and Kristian Bezuidenhout performing the music of Bach:
Next, here is Isabelle Faust with Alexander Melnikov playing Beethoven’s Violin Sonata #10
Finally, here is Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto n°1 performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and its concertmaster, Glenn Dicterow:
Tags: Bela Bartok, violin concertos, Isabelle Faust