Bartok - Etudes op. 18 (complete)

[fnork]

12/10-12

First complete live performance of these...scary pieces...

[fnork]

update - sound quality normalized now...unfortunately, the microphone was still rather too far from the piano, causing some blurring. Hope the music comes through in spite of this.

[rachfan]

Bravo!  I'm surprised that I'm the first to reply to this post.  These Bartok Etudes are very difficult, certainly virtuosic to put it mildly.  I would guess that they are seldom heard.  This music is often hard driving with daring modern dissonance from Bartok's time, yet very listenable.  I especially enjoyed Etude No. 2 as it is quasi-impressionistic.  This set of etudes is highly original.  I hope many others will listen to it.  Great playing!

David

[fnork]

Thanks for commenting! Yes, they are heard much too seldom, especially in live concerts. The 2nd is easiest and the most commonly heard of them, I would guess, and you are very right about the quasi-impressionist remark - Bartok in fact wrote it not long after he became acquainted with Debussy's music. Just as Debussy - in his etude pour arpeges composees - Bartok sought to find new ways of employing the ever-so-old conventional arpeggio figuration. The results achieved by them both are remarkable, yet in very different ways.