{"id":1771,"date":"2017-05-23T07:53:17","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T07:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hollerung.hu\/?page_id=1771"},"modified":"2017-06-16T07:13:13","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T07:13:13","slug":"bartok-piano-concerto-no-3","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hollerung.hu\/en\/bartok-piano-concerto-no-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Bart\u00f3k: Piano Concerto No. 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cosmopolitans of the Hungarian music life: Annie Fischer<\/span><\/p>\n

5 October 2014, Music Academy, Budapest<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bal\u00e1zs Dem\u00e9ny<\/strong>
\npiano<\/p>\n

Dohn\u00e1nyi Orchestra Budafok<\/strong><\/p>\n

Very warm welcome to the first concert in this year\u2019s series of Understanding Music. This year our entire Understanding Music will be devoted to the memory of great Hungarian musicians. Today actually to Annie Fischer[1]<\/a> who would be 100 years old this year. She was one of the most significant world-famous pianists of the \u201850s-\u201860s. On these occasions I always rely on my personal memories when I have to choose a piece. The way she interpreted Bart\u00f3k\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 3 left some fadeless memories in me, though her Mozart performance was also unforgettable. Still, in Bart\u00f3k\u2019s piano concerto she was really unbeatable.
\nBart\u00f3k\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 3 is a feminine work, from several aspects. Bart\u00f3k composed this piece for his wife Ditta P\u00e1sztory[2]<\/a>, which is an interesting combination of an evidently original and ad hoc intention. Bart\u00f3k worked on assignment on several occasions. The mechanism of composing for something, for somebody or for some occasion was always inherent in his life, though this could never be felt in his works. Piano Concerto No. 3 is a light, feminine work, as he composed it for his wife, and not any moment lets us forget about this fact. In comparison with Piano Concerto No. 2, that is sensibly much more filled with strife for both the pianist and the orchestra. It\u2019s quite difficult to play that really well. But in Concerto No. 3 we encounter with an airy and simplified composition.
\nThis piece is the swan-song in Bart\u00f3k\u2019s life work[3]<\/a>. Swan-songs always state interesting questions. We love treating these topics: if for instance Bach really \u201cdied in\u201d that very quadruple fugue in The Art of Fugue or if he couldn\u2019t simply finish it. We\u2019ve mentioned some time earlier (our frequent guests might remember) that that fugue couldn\u2019t be finished. Bach must also have admitted that quadruple fugues are not to be composed. What\u2019s more, no one apart from Bach could actually compose triple fugues in music history. As regards Mozart, we know why he didn\u2019t finish Requiem. So all in all, the last completed or almost completed works always raise major questions as to what would\u2019ve happened if their composer had lived longer, if he had also composed this or that as a swan-song. How much can it hold true that the artists\u2019, in particular creative artists\u2019 amazing sentiment helps them feel the boundary of their entire life and leave it behind or phrase it somehow in their works?
\nWe\u2019re strongly inclined to believing that Bart\u00f3k\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 3 means such a legacy. He may have known he wouldn\u2019t compose and complete any other works, so here in this piano concerto he relied on the wisdom and clarity of a man taking his leave and created a quasi testament to show what he\u2019d been fighting for all his life, though never did he dare remain so much truly simple, clear and evident. We\u2019d like to show you some examples to prove how much this is true and what\u2019s actually hidden behind all this.<\/p>\n

What is the perhaps most important characteristic in Bart\u00f3k\u2019s life work and how does it develop? The very first we always mention is that Bart\u00f3k\u2019s life work is founded on folk music. On the miraculous recognition that genuine Hungarian folk music, ancient Hungarian folk music is still here with us after a millenary (given that urbanization in Hungary took a slower pace), what\u2019s more, it was still traceable in the beginning of the 20th century and might dispersedly still be traceable today. All these are our original, genuine roots.
\nWell, what happens to folk music in this piece? First off it seems to almost vanish. Still, there are some folk music-type gestures. Actually, it\u2019s not the genuine folk music but, to be more correct, the essence of folk music-based thinking permeates Bart\u00f3k\u2019s art in his forms, melody forming and a thousand more components typical in folk music, although here this seems to be much less traceable.
\nBut yes, it is apparently traceable, as immediately in the very first melody (played by the pianist) we can identify the Hungarian characteristics. This specific para-para parappa parara is a very typical Hungarian rhythm. But don\u2019t forget: this is not the rhythm of our Hungarian folk music with centuries-old traditions but that of verbunk music. The same rhythm as Sz\u00f3zat[4]<\/a> was written in, the same as Liszt used to compose his rhapsodies, and the same as the 19th century believed to be Hungarian. The music that used to be played by Gypsy bands in those times. The expression Gypsy band meant something totally different then: these bands were orchestras of Gypsy musicians who were the depositaries of disseminating folk music. Verbunk became a central part in some great Hungarian composers\u2019 life work. Nevertheless, this is not the Hungarian music that represents our thousand-year-old culture and that the world has come to know us for. Let\u2019s play now the beginning of the piece. <\/p>\n

     <\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span>1. Bart\u00f3k: Piano Concerto No. 3<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/span>