Bartók's Entire Violin Chamber Works /3 Presented by Liszt Academy

In the course of extensive journeying to collect folk music, Bartók listened to and noted down the music of countless village fiddlers; he then exploited this treasure trove of experience particularly in his two rhapsodies for violin and piano. The two rhapsodies, including the second dedicated to Zoltán Székely, are not necessarily works designed to change the world, but rather compositions made for practical reasons that are of great musical value, pleasing to the ear and a pleasure to play. On the other hand, the Solo Sonata commissioned by and dedicated to Yehudi Menuhin is one of the (if not the greatest) summits of abstract music, and as one of Bartók’s final works the culmination of his compositional career. As a contrast, after the break the audience receives the Piano Quintet, a work by the young Bartók and one of the final pieces dating from his ‘Romantic period’.