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Bartok Concerto for orchestra program notes, recordings and sheet music

Program Notes: Béla Bartók – Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116, BB 123

Welcome, dear concert-goer, to a vibrant, powerful, and deeply moving masterpiece from one of the 20th century's most original voices. Tonight, we present Béla Bartók’s extraordinary Concerto for Orchestra – a work that is simultaneously a dazzling showpiece for every section of the orchestra, a profound personal statement, and a poignant reflection on the human spirit in times of crisis.

Bartók: The Ethnomusicologist-Composer in Exile

Béla Bartók (1881-1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He was a pioneer in studying and incorporating the authentic folk music of Eastern Europe (Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, etc.) into his sophisticated classical compositions. His music is characterized by its powerful rhythms, modal harmonies derived from folk sources, acerbic dissonances, and a unique blend of intellectual rigor with raw emotional intensity.

By the late 1930s, as fascism tightened its grip on Europe, Bartók, a staunch anti-fascist, made the agonizing decision to leave his beloved Hungary. In 1940, he immigrated to the United States with his wife, seeking refuge from the escalating war. His early years in America were difficult; he struggled with ill health, financial hardship, and a profound sense of isolation and creative stagnation.

A Spark of Hope: The Genesis of the Concerto

It was during this period of despair that a lifeline appeared. In 1943, Serge Koussevitzky, the renowned conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, visited Bartók in his New York hospital room. Koussevitzky, aware of Bartók's struggles, offered him a

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