Search - Bela Bartok, Ludwig van Beethoven, Claude Debussy :: Rhapsody for Violin & Piano

A Wonderful Collaboration

BLee | HK | 01/27/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In mordern time, great composers are not necessarily great performers, but Bartok ( and his compatriot Dohnanyi ) is an obvious exception. That Bartok came second just after Backhaus only pointed to the absurdity of a competition.Backhaus always interpreted music in the most direct and meaningful way. That is marvelous of course. But needless to say, he is less well-rounded than Bartok. Bartok drew his source not just from folk music and also from Mother Nature as well. His playing ( so was Rachmaninoff ) was so natural which is the least mannered and quite the opposite of anything mechanical. And as the greatest modern composer, he saw music right behind the notes and the scores and dealt with only the most essentials... That Bartok received so much attention as a composer and yet received so little as a pianist is absurd. His playing has a rare beauty that is most enjoyable.Szigeti is one of the the greatest violinists of all times, one of the most erudite if not most authentic violinists. But he is not dry at all. Quite the contrary, it's very colourful very powerful. He later played some of the same piece with Schnabel and then with Horszowski which was perhaps more spontaneous. Yes, they are graceful too, but they are not quite the same thing here.

The sound here of both the piano and the violin is very good indeed. Highly recommended."

The most passionate performance of Kreutzer sonata on record

Stephen I. Hersh | Highland Park, IL USA | 11/30/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Kreutzer may be the most beautiful piano and violin sonata, and this maybe the most beautiful performance of it ever. Szigeti's violin is all heart, and so is Bela Bartok's piano performance. I am not as much of a fan of the Bartok and Debussy music that also appear on this disc so I will not comment on those, but if you value soulfulness over precision in a performance of chamber music, and if you can get past the just-passable sound quality of this 1940 recording, this music is a little bit of heaven."

Historical

Discophage | France | 04/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the same Szigeti Bartok recital, given at the Library of Congress in Washington on April 13, 1940, that is available on Vanguard and which I have reviewed at length under that entry: Beethoven, Debussy: Sonatas; Bartok: Rhapsody / Szigeti, Bartok. It is a historical moment and praise the Gods of music that it was recorded, something like having Wolfgang and Leopold Mozart playing one of Wolfgang's Violin Sonatas and one, say, say, by Gluck or CPE Bach and one by JS Bach, or Brahms-Joachim playing Brahms, Grieg and Schubert. And it's not just the names on the poster, mind you: they play stupendously, in Bartok needless to say as well as in Debussy and Beethoven. Bartok is a master pianist and Szigeti is free of the tonal deterioration that was to mar his later recordings. See my longer review for more details."