Stravinsky, Bartók & Martinů: Works for violin and orchestra

Featuring

Frank Peter Zimmermann
Jakub Hrůša
Bamberger Symphoniker
Igor Stravinsky
Béla Bartók
Bohuslav Martinů

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Instruments

The orchestration of Bartók's First Rhapsody for violin and orchestra notably features the cimbalom, while the Second Rhapsody includes cor anglais, harp, celeste, piano, and percussion.

Compositional Technique

Each movement of Stravinsky's Violin Concerto opens with a variation on a specific chord, stretching from E to top A, which the dedicatee, Samuel Dushkin, initially found unplayable.

Composer's Artistic Vision

These composers, facing political upheaval and cultural displacement, each found unique ways to reinvent tonal music, blending their Eastern European identities with Western influences.

Composer Biography

Béla Bartók, a pioneer in ethnomusicology, gathered much of the folk music material for his Rhapsodies during a 1910 trip to Siebenbürgen, central Romania.

Composition History

Stravinsky was initially hesitant to compose his Violin Concerto due to limited knowledge of writing for the instrument, but the soloist, Samuel Dushkin, offered his technical expertise.

Historical Context

Stravinsky, Bartók, and Martinů, all established international figures, emigrated due to their intolerance for fascism with the onset of World War Two.

Performer Biography

Frank Peter Zimmermann, the violinist on this recording, plays on the 1711 Antonius Stradivari violin 'Lady Inchiquin', provided by the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen.