Violin Recital: Barnabas Keleman

Featuring

Barnabás Kelemen
Péter Nagy
Maurice Ravel
Béla Bartók
Franz Liszt
Pablo de Sarasate

Did you know?

1/7

Performer Biography

Péter Nagy, the pianist on this album, won the first prize in the 1979 Hungarian Radio Competition and the prestigious Liszt Award in 2001.

Compositional Technique

Ravel's Tzigane, heard here in its original form for violin and piano, is designed to test a player's virtuosity and technique, opening with an unaccompanied violin introduction using gypsy melodic formulae.

Composition History

Ravel's Tzigane was written in 1924 for Hungarian violinist Jelly d'Arányi, and Ravel reportedly incorporated her improvised additions into the completed work.

Compositional Technique

Bartók's two Rhapsodies for violin and piano, written in 1928, are in two movements, lassú followed by friss, mirroring the standard Hungarian verbunkos (recruiting dance) and csárdás.

Composer Biography

Béla Bartók, a Hungarian composer, developed a deep interest in the folk-music of his own and adjacent countries, shared with his compatriot Zoltán Kodály.

Performer Biography

Barnabás Kelemen plays the 1683 Ex-Gingold Stradivari violin and Tourte bow on this recording, which were loaned to him for winning the 2002 Indianapolis International Violin Competition.