Difference between revisions of "Béla Bartók"

From Zappa Wiki Jawaka
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Clean-up.)
 
(5 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[File:Béla Bartók.jpg|350px|thumb|right|Béla Bartók.]]
+
__NOTOC__
  
'''Béla Bartók''' (March 25, 1881 - September 26, 1945) was a [[Hungary|Hungarian]] composer. Bartók's unique style was inspired by folk music from his native country, but later in life he was also inspired by folk music from other parts of the world.
+
[[File:Béla Bartók.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Béla Bartók.]]
  
Bartók travelled throughout Eastern Europe and parts of Asia and Northern Africa to collect traditional folk music on wax cylinder recordings. Though he wasn't the first composer to be inspired by traditional peasant music, nobody but Bartók absorbed the raw, primitive power of these melodies and rhythms so brutally in his own compositions. At the start of the Second World War Bartok fled to the United States, where he died in 1945.  
+
'''Béla Bartók''' (March 25, 1881 - September 26, 1945) was a [[Hungary|Hungarian]] composer and pianist. Bartók was inspired by folk music from his native country and by folk music from other parts of the world.  Vociferously opposed to fascism Bartók moved to the USA in 1940 where he died in 1945 shortly after completing his third piano concerto.
  
His most famous works are ''Romanian Folk Dances'' (1915), ''Dance Suite'' (1923), ''The Miraculous Mandarin'' (1926), ''Microcosmos'' (1926-1939), ''Hungarian Pictures'' (1931), ''Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta'' (1936) and ''Concerto for Orchestra'' (1944).
+
<blockquote>Bartók used to collect folk songs and use them in his compositions. In my case I collect folk lore of a verbal kind, from the street or from the people immediately surrounding the world of the group, and convert them into a musical reference.<ref>Frank Zappa - [[Zappa – The Great Satirist]]</ref></blockquote>
  
==Zappa and Béla Bartók==
+
Zappa owned a recording of the the 2nd and 3rd piano concertos about which he enthused:
 +
[[File:Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[https://www.discogs.com/release/10195838-Bartók-Edith-Farnadi-Vienna-State-Opera-Orchestra-Conducted-By-Hermann-Scherchen-Piano-Concertos-No Westminster 18277 (1956)]]]
  
One of Zappa's favorite musical pieces were Bartók's three Piano Concertos. He named them all as three of his favorite musical albums in the ''[[My Favorite Records]]'' article in [[Hit Parader]] (1967) and selected the [[Theme From "The Bartok Piano Concerto|Third Piano Concerto]] (1945) , on ''[[Castaway's Choice]]''. Later Zappa would quote the track on ''[[Make A Jazz Noise Here]]'' and in an interview he would claim: ''"I think it is one of the most beautiful melodies ever written"''. [[Nigey Lennon]] also mentions on page 103 of her book ''"[[Being Frank - My Time With Frank Zappa]]"'' that Zappa enjoyed listening to Bartók's Third Piano Concerto: ''"The first time I heard the main melody in the first movement of this thing, I almost (now don't laugh) cried," he said with a fierce shyness when he put on the record, just daring me to snicker."''
+
<blockquote>Also you ought to get Béla Bartók's first, second and third piano concertos, which are all very groovy and good to dance to. I have the version on Westminster (18277)<ref>This was the 1956 reissue of 1954's Westminster WL 5249 which was a reissue of the French issue on Vega C-30-A-164 also from 1954.</ref> by Edith Farnadi with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. I've never heard any other version of the second and third piano concertos so I don't know whether or not that's the best recording. It might not even be available.<ref>The recording can be streamed on [https://music.apple.com/album/bart%C3%B3k-concertos-pour-piano-nos-2-3-mono-version/1043655857 Apple Music] and [https://open.spotify.com/album/5qjSXizrIVZptZAmrmbaWb?si=f8lgigy0SBGg4s8zSEPtIA Spotify].</ref> I heard another version of the first at [[wikipedia:Andy Kulberg|Andy Kulberg]]'s, of the Blues Project, who has an extensive collection of modern music.<ref> - Frank Zappa, [[My Favorite Records]], 1967</ref></blockquote>
  
==See also==
+
 
* [[First Piano Concerto (Bartók)]]
+
The Third Piano Concerto was one of Zappa's selection when he appeared on [[Castaway's Choice]] describing it as "I think it is one of the most beautiful melodies ever written".  [[Nigey Lennon]] recalled:
* [[Second Piano Concerto (Bartók)]]
+
 
* [[Third Piano Concerto (Bartók)]]
+
<blockquote>"The first time I heard the main melody in the first movement of this thing, I almost (now don't laugh) cried," he said with a fierce shyness when he put on the record, just daring me to snicker.<ref>[[Being Frank - My Time With Frank Zappa]]</ref></blockquote>
* [[Theme From "The Bartok Piano Concerto]]
+
 
 +
Zappa's [[Tours/1988|1988 band]] would perform an arrangement of the [[Theme From "The Bartok Piano Concerto"|theme From "The Bartok Piano Concerto #3"]] recording it for [[Make A Jazz Noise Here]] and [[Zappa '88: The Last U.S. Show]].
 +
 
 +
==Notes==
 +
<references/>
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
Line 22: Line 27:
 
[[Category:Favorite Artists|Bartók, Béla]]
 
[[Category:Favorite Artists|Bartók, Béla]]
 
[[Category:Influences|Bartók, Béla]]
 
[[Category:Influences|Bartók, Béla]]
 +
[[Category:Pianists|Bartók, Béla]]
 
[[Category:Composers|Bartók, Béla]]
 
[[Category:Composers|Bartók, Béla]]

Latest revision as of 01:48, 24 December 2021


Béla Bartók.

Béla Bartók (March 25, 1881 - September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer and pianist. Bartók was inspired by folk music from his native country and by folk music from other parts of the world. Vociferously opposed to fascism Bartók moved to the USA in 1940 where he died in 1945 shortly after completing his third piano concerto.

Bartók used to collect folk songs and use them in his compositions. In my case I collect folk lore of a verbal kind, from the street or from the people immediately surrounding the world of the group, and convert them into a musical reference.[1]

Zappa owned a recording of the the 2nd and 3rd piano concertos about which he enthused:

Also you ought to get Béla Bartók's first, second and third piano concertos, which are all very groovy and good to dance to. I have the version on Westminster (18277)[2] by Edith Farnadi with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. I've never heard any other version of the second and third piano concertos so I don't know whether or not that's the best recording. It might not even be available.[3] I heard another version of the first at Andy Kulberg's, of the Blues Project, who has an extensive collection of modern music.[4]


The Third Piano Concerto was one of Zappa's selection when he appeared on Castaway's Choice describing it as "I think it is one of the most beautiful melodies ever written". Nigey Lennon recalled:

"The first time I heard the main melody in the first movement of this thing, I almost (now don't laugh) cried," he said with a fierce shyness when he put on the record, just daring me to snicker.[5]

Zappa's 1988 band would perform an arrangement of the theme From "The Bartok Piano Concerto #3" recording it for Make A Jazz Noise Here and Zappa '88: The Last U.S. Show.

Notes

  1. Frank Zappa - Zappa – The Great Satirist
  2. This was the 1956 reissue of 1954's Westminster WL 5249 which was a reissue of the French issue on Vega C-30-A-164 also from 1954.
  3. The recording can be streamed on Apple Music and Spotify.
  4. - Frank Zappa, My Favorite Records, 1967
  5. Being Frank - My Time With Frank Zappa

External links