ii. Viennese Musical Clock

v. Intermezzo





PROKOFIEV: Lt. Kijé Suite:

iii. Wedding of Kijé

iv. Troika







London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt, cond. EMI, recorded c 1983



As I mentioned last week, I also had George Szell's memorable Háry János-Kijé coupling (to which Sony has added his outstanding recording of Maurice Ravel's beloved orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition) on order. That CD has since tumbled in, and we'll be hearing some if it when we come back to this music. I also tracked down a CD of the Háry János Suite from the much underrated series of recordings made by Erich Leinsdorf while he was music director of the Boston Symphony (1962-69).



That recording was presumably made at the same time I heard and them play it at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. (Back then the BSO not only played an extensive series of concerts each season at Carnegie Hall but a shorter series in Brooklyn, with student tickets often available for a dollar.) That was the first time I ever heard Háry János. If I recall correctly, it was on the program with the Mahler First Symphony, and that would have been the first Mahler symphony I ever heard. (Leinsdorf and the BSO also recorded that, and even now, when I've got probably several dozen Mahler Firsts, I think that's still the one I would pick if I could have only one.)





Háry János also contains two works by Kodály's countryman, onetime student, and longtime friend and colleague, Béla Bartók. (That's the young Bartók with Kodály in the photo.) First, there's his culminating orchestral masterpiece, the Concerto for Orchestra. (Parenthetically, this was the first recording Leinsdorf and the BSO made together, and to celebrate the occasion RCA originally issued it along with a promotional LP gathering BSO recordings made by Leinsdorf's illustrious predecessors in Boston going back to a 1918 acoustical Lohengrin Act III Prelude conducted by Karl Muck, which I played endlessly, and also including Serge Koussevitzky's recording of Prokofiev's Classical Symphony, which is how I got to know that delectable piece (which we'll be hearing when we come back to Prokofiev). Then there's the recording of the Hungarian Sketches by that volatile Hungarian Fritz Reiner with the Chicago Symphony. The BMG CD that contains Leinsdorf'salso contains two works by Kodály's countryman, onetime student, and longtime friend and colleague, Béla Bartók. (That's the young Bartók with Kodály in the photo.) First, there's his culminating orchestral masterpiece, the(Parenthetically, this was the first recording Leinsdorf and the BSO made together, and to celebrate the occasion RCA originally issued it along with a promotional LP gathering BSO recordings made by Leinsdorf's illustrious predecessors in Boston going back to a 1918 acousticalAct III Prelude conducted by Karl Muck, which I played endlessly, and also including Serge Koussevitzky's recording of Prokofiev'sSymphony, which is how I got to know that delectable piece (which we'll be hearing when we come back to Prokofiev). Then there's the recording of theby that volatile Hungarian Fritz Reiner with the Chicago Symphony.



BARTÓK: Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116



ii. Giuoco delle coppie (Game of Couples)

(Allegretto scherzando)



that the movement "is in five sections, each thematically distinct from each other, with a different pair of instruments playing together in each section. In each passage a different interval separates the pair—bassoons are a minor sixth apart, oboes are in minor thirds, clarinets in minor sevenths, flutes in fifths and muted trumpets in major seconds. The movement prominently features a side drum which taps out a rhythm at the beginning and end of the movement. Wikipedia notes that the movement "is in five sections, each thematically distinct from each other, with a different pair of instruments playing together in each section. In each passage a different interval separates the pair—bassoons are a minor sixth apart, oboes are in minor thirds, clarinets in minor sevenths, flutes in fifths and muted trumpets in major seconds. The movement prominently features a side drum which taps out a rhythm at the beginning and end of the movement.





(Wikipedia also notes that Sir Georg Solti, after consulting the manuscript, discovered that Bartók indicated a considerably faster metronome marking than we have in the printed score, and a tempo marking for the movement of "Allegro scherzando" rather than "Allegretto scherzando." We're going to hear a Solti Concerto for Orchestra at the end of this post. Note the difference in "Giuoco delle coppie.")







iv. Intermezzo interrotto (Interrupted Intermezzo)

(Allegretto)



Wikipedia, again, says the movement "consists of a flowing melody with changing time signatures, intermixed with a theme parodying and ridiculing the march tune in Dmitri Shostakovich's 'Leningrad' Symphony (No. 7). The theme is itself interrupted by glissandi on the trombones and woodwinds. In this movement, the timpani are featured when the second theme is introduced, requiring 12 different pitches of the timpani over the course of 20 seconds. The general structure is 'ABA–interruption–BA.'"









Boston Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded 1962



After all the bits and pieces, I thought we should listen to all of the two Bartók orchestral pieces we've sampled, starting with the Hungarian Sketches -- first in the Reiner recording, then in one by another distinguished Hungarian-born conductor, Antal Dorati.



BARTÓK: Hungarian Sketches, Sz. 71



i. Evening in the Village

ii. Bear Dance

iii. Melody

iv. A Bit Tipsy

v. Swineherds' Dance





Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded 1958





Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati, cond. Mercury, recorded 1956



Finally we come back t what I would think is Bartók's best-known work, completed in 1943 by the already-ill composer on a (temporarily) life-saving commission engineered by Boston Symphony music director Serge Koussevitzky, played first by the BSO under Erich Leinsdorf and then by the World Orchestra for Peace conducted by yet another celebrated Hungarian-born conductor, Sir Georg Solti.



BARTÓK: Concerto for Orchestra, Sz.116



i. Introduzione (Allegro vivace)

ii. Giuoco delle coppie (Allegretto scherzando)

iii. Elegia (Andante non troppo)

iv. Intermezzo interrotto (Allegretto)

v. Finale (Pesante; Presto)



Movements i.-ii.



Movements iii.-v.



Boston Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded 1962



Movements i.-ii.



Movements iii.-v.



World Orchestra for Peace, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded live at the United Nations 50th Anniversary Concert, Geneva, July 5, 1995

# After all the bits and pieces, I thought we should listen toof the two Bartók orchestral pieces we've sampled, starting with the-- first in the Reiner recording, then in one by another distinguished Hungarian-born conductor, Antal Dorati.Finally we come back t what I would think is Bartók's best-known work, completed in 1943 by the already-ill composer on a (temporarily) life-saving commission engineered by Boston Symphony music director Serge Koussevitzky, played first by the BSO under Erich Leinsdorf and then by the World Orchestra for Peace conducted by yet another celebrated Hungarian-born conductor, Sir Georg Solti.

This isn't "masterpiece" Bartók, of course. The composer admitted that he did this set of orchestrations as a way to have some of his more accessible music more widely played, notably on the radio (and maybe even earn him a bit of money). Nevertheless, theare wonderful stuff. Only a couple of them clearly fall under our heading of musical funny business. Let's first refresh our memory of the "Bear Dance":In the nonhumorous category, here's the opening, first in the composer-played piano version -- an unfortunately incomplete (and technically less good) transcription from the same broadcast as the "Bear Dance" -- and then, again, in the Reiner orchestral version.We're going to come back to the, but to return to last week's preview subject (see the link above), "Musical funny business from two great composers and a great conductor," I'm surely not alone in specially treasuring theandmusic preciselythey draw on their composers' wit, and I think the sense of humor -- in particular from a predominantly "serious" artist of great stature -- is often one of his or her most personal dimensions. (At this stage of his career, actually, Prokofiev was unleashing his wicked sense of humor all over the place, and we'll hear some of it when we come around to a Prokofiev "Musical Funny Business" installment.)As I thought about this subject of musical funny business, I made an effort to gather CD versions of recordings that have meant a lot to me. You already heard one fruit of this in last week's sampling of Klaus Tennstedt's incandescent recording ofand. By way of a tease, here are additional excerpts from each.