Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Bartók’s youthful piano concerto movement – perhaps not independently of Strauss’s youthful work, which employed a similar setup – was originally to have had the title Burlesque. Later on, Bartók planned to introduce and publish it under the name Scherzo, although both the premiere (Bartók refused to allow the ensemble to perform the work because they had not sufficiently rehearsed it) and the publication of the work never happened. The composer himself appears to have wanted to forget the whole piece. The score of the movement only came to light more than 50 years later, and it is now appears evident that from among the early Bartók compositions, the Scherzo displays many progressive elements.