Search - Bela Bartok, Ludwig van Beethoven, Claude Debussy :: A Sonata Recital by Joseph Szigeti & Béla Bartók

A great recital

Anton Zimmerling | Moscow, Russia | 07/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This Live Recital was recorded at the Library of Congress on April 13, 1940. I am huge fan of Bela Bartok's music and bought this CD mainly because I was interested to hear how such a great composer perceived and interpreted the music of Beethoven and Debussy. I have also come across some laudatory comments about Bartok's cooperation with Joseph Szigeti and kept in mind their wonderful recording of Six Romanian Dances (alas, they did not play that beatiful cycle of short pieces in Washington 1940, turning to Bartok's 1st Rhapsody which is a more demanding, but also a more outward concert piece).

The whole recital is great. This Kreutzer-Sonata is surely one of the best on record: it is both passionate and nervous, but neither theatrical nor rude. I don't know, where the impetus comes from, but I guess it is Bartok's conception: Szigeti was not a very impassionate performer. The Debussy is great, and Bartok's 2nd Sonata is more than authentic, though some passages in it were apparently too difficult for Szigeti, at least at that evening. However, his playing and musicality is more appealing than by some technically more clean performers.

Bartok is playing fine throughout the recital. Szigeti is at his best in Beethoven. In more modern music he is equally strong as an interpreter, but his shrill attacks, wide vibrato and occasional cracks do not always please the ears. It is a matter of individual taste, whether a listener can distract from these disturbing moments and follow Szigeti's phrasing and accents. I can, at least here.

To sum up: you need not be a fan of Szigeti or Bartok to enjoy a great deal of music on this CD. Highly recommended."

One of the most fascinating and indispensable documents of 2

Discophage | France | 06/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the reissue of Beethoven, Debussy: Sonatas; Bartok: Rhapsody / Szigeti, Bartok and one of the most fascinating and indispensable documents of 20th century classical music interpretation, the modern equivalent of having a recording of Wolfgang and Leopold Mozart performing sonatas by Bach and Mozart, or Brahms and Joachim playing works by Beethoven and Brahms. For more detailed comments on the historical significance and interpretive excellence of this 1940 live recital given at the Library of Congress in Washington, see my review under the original Vanguard CD reissue."