Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116 & Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta, Sz. 106

Featuring

Marin Alsop
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Béla Bartók

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Historical Context

Bartók emigrated to the United States in 1940 due to dissatisfaction with the growing association between the Horthy government in Hungary and National Socialist Germany.

Composition History

Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta was commissioned in 1936 by Paul Sacher, founder and conductor of the Basle Chamber Orchestra.

Composer Biography

Béla Bartók, the Hungarian composer, developed a deep interest in the folk music of his own and adjacent countries, extending his research as far as Anatolia.

Compositional Technique

In the Concerto for Orchestra, Bartók parodies a fragment of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony within the Intermezzo movement.

Performer Biography

Marin Alsop made history in 2007 by becoming the first woman to head a major American orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Compositional Technique

In Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, the first movement's string entries follow the circle of fifths, leading to a central climax on E flat.

Composition History

Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra was commissioned in 1943 by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in memory of conductor Sergey Koussevitzky's wife, Natalie.