Béla Bartók, Piano Concerto No 3

 "It is a pity that I have to leave with a full suitcase" 

The last of the three piano concertos by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók was composed in 1945 in New York, where he had arrived in October 1940, fleeing the Nazi barbarism in the company of his wife, Ditta Pasztory. The Concerto is dedicated to her as a birthday present. On the last page of the score, the composer noted, in Hungarian, the word vége (end). It was the last thing he wrote. That same night he was taken from his apartment on 57th Street to a hospital on the west side of Manhattan, where he died four days later, on September 26, 1945. He was 64.

In the States
The last five years of his life were spent in the United States. They were not particularly productive years. Nor were they happy ones. The first two years he wrote nothing and from 1942 onwards his health suddenly weakened, then worsened and the maestro seemed unable to recover. But in May 1943, a Russian conductor's commission of a Concerto for Orchestra brought him back to life. The music flowed again, until 1945, the year that marked a high point. Unfortunately, there was little time left.

Béla Barók (1881 - 1945)

Saying goodbye with a full suitcase
For the first time in years, Bartók worked on two significant pieces simultaneously: the Viola Concerto and the Third Piano Concerto. And when he left his apartment for the last time he had a new string quartet in draft form and was considering a commission for a concerto for two pianos requested by a pair of pianists.
This resurgence of such activity was likely motivated by an awareness of his failing health. It is said that when he arrived at the hospital he would have said: "It is a pity that I have to leave with a full suitcase".

Piano Concerto No. 3, in E major
Unlike his two previous concertos, Concerto No. 3 does not demand of the performer superb virtuosity. Nor does it exhibit a notorious modernism but rather a strong adherence to traditional models and forms. Even the Hungarian melodic and rhythmic elements, while present, are less pronounced than in the previous concertos.
A warm, melodic, and popularly appealing work.
It premiered on February 8, 1946, with György Sándor at the piano accompanied by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy.

Movements:
00:00  Allegretto
08:10  Adagio religioso
17:40  Allegro vivace

The performance is by the Hungarian pianist András Schiff, accompanied by the Hallé Orchestra (Manchester-based symphony orchestra) conducted by Sir Mark Elder.

Albéniz: "Evocación", from Iberia Suite

The little pianist who once toured the world

In 1893, Isaac Albéniz had long since stopped partying and had finally settled down. Settled in Paris, he enjoyed the sympathy of the Parisians and was a close friend of Dukas and Fauré. It was then that he stopped playing the piano in front of an audience. At the end of his life, he had composed a handful of interesting pieces, and a hundred or so pleasant and beautiful "salon pieces", but most of them today are forgotten. But in the last four years of his life, he devoted himself to work on a series of highly complex and significant piano pieces that assured him immortality. They were published in four notebooks under the title "Iberia".

Born in 1860 in a town in Catalonia, Isaac Albéniz made his debut as a pianist at the age of four. Three years later, he was writing his first compositions. With such an astonishing start, it should not be surprising that at the age of nine, he was playing for the audience of the Casino de El Escorial. The occasion arose from one of his typical escapades from the family home. He took a train in any direction, and on the way he met the manager of the Casino who, curious, invited him to play for his guests, but the next day the manager left him sitting on another train with the commitment to return home. Isaac left the train two stations further and took another one in the opposite direction.

Isaac Albéniz (1860 - 1909)

Touring the world
It was the first of the great adventures of the child genius, the Spanish Rubinstein, as he would later be called. Three years after his foray to the Escorial, he hid on a ship and ended up playing in Puerto Rico. Similar escapades took him to Buenos Aires, Cuba, San Francisco, and New York.

Back in Europe
At the age of thirteen, he returned to Europe and took private lessons in Leipzig. Then a grant from the Spanish government allowed him to enter the Brussels Conservatory, which, as expected, he left soon after. In 1878 he got Liszt to listen to him. He was the teacher with whom he finished his formal studies. After that, it was all about success in half of Europe.

The Iberia Suite
The collection is made up of twelve pieces distributed in four notebooks with three pieces each. The complete work lasts about an hour and a half; each piece (except for the first one) describes a certain region of Spain, and hence its title (it could not be called Spain since there were two recent works with that title –one by Chabrier, from 1883).

The complete work is made up of the following pieces:
Cuaderno 1: Evocación - El Puerto - Corpus en Seville
Cuaderno 2: Rondeña - Almeria - Triana
Cuaderno 3: El Albaicín - El Polo - Lavapies
Cuaderno  4: Málaga - Jerez - Eritaña

Composed between 1904 and 1909 (the year of the composer's death), it is considered the most important work of Spanish piano literature. Enrique Granados did not spare the praise: "...I want everyone to play it, forgive me if many of you burst it, but this is a way to tell you that I like it with delirium", he wrote in a letter to Albéniz.

Suite Iberia - Book I - "Evocación" (Evocation)
Evocación is the first of the three pieces in Book I, a sort of introduction to the complete suite. It does not evoke, then, a particular Spanish region but rather delivers images of the peninsula in general.

Serene and tranquility in the outer sections, a passionate central piece provides the necessary contrast. A delicate exoticism permeates the work throughout.

The rendition is by Spanish pianist Luis Fernando Pérez.

Beethoven, Sonata No. 18, "The Hunt"

A cheerful work before the storm

With the exception of its lively finale, Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 18 is a quiet, rather cheerful work, which does not at all convey bitterness or gloom. Written in 1802, its frolicsome character in no way reveals that a few months later the master would radically change his mood, to sit down and write to his two brothers, sharing with them all his torments in the letter we know today as the famous Heiligenstadt Testament:

"Alas, how could I proclaim the lack of a sense which I should possess in a higher degree than any other? [...] I am estranged from amusement... from the pleasure of conversation, from the effusions of friendship.... [...] Such circumstances have brought me to the verge of despair [...] Patience, so I have been told. This must be my guide. [...]

The letter ends with a heartbreaking plea, "O Providence, grant me at least a single day of sincere joy!"

We know the letter was never sent. It was discovered among his belongings after his death in 1827, together with the letters to the Immortal Beloved.
Of course, Beethoven was deeply affected by his deafness and he was not in Heiligenstadt by chance but on the recommendation of his doctor to "rest his ear". But at the same time, the maestro was aware that he had to embark on a new path, tackling new forms of musical expression. "I am not satisfied with what I have done so far," Beethoven remarked in a letter to a friend shortly before the appearance of the Sonata No. 18, according to Karl Czerny. 

The new paths
In the Sonata, according to Czerny himself, "one can trace the partial fulfillment of his new purpose". Indeed, later would come the portentous Waldstein and Appassionata sonatas (both 1804) to fully implement the master's resolution of 1802.

The sonata was published in 1804 without an opus number. It would later be incorporated into Opus 31. Interestingly, the work was not dedicated to any nobleman, nor was it dedicated to anyone else. The piece has no dedication.

Piano Sonata No. 18, Opus 31 No. 3, in E flat major - "The Hunt"
This is the third and last of the three sonatas of Opus 31 (the second being the most popular, The Tempest sonata, and the first the most "classical" - a characteristic, the latter, not well regarded by some scholars).
It is also known as "The Hunt" because of its last movement, which contains a theme reminiscent of a hunting call by trumpets or horns. The nickname, of course, only applies to this movement (just as "Moonlight" only applies to the first movement of the same moniker's sonata).

As on several previous occasions (six, exactly), Beethoven structured the piece in four movements, opting for a scherzo and a minuet instead of the usual adagio.

Movements:
00:00  Allegro
08:31  Scherzo. Allegretto vivace
13:22  Menuetto: Moderato e grazioso
17:48  Presto con fuoco

The rendition is by the Argentine-Israeli (also Spanish and Palestinian) maestro Daniel Barenboim.

Vivaldi, "La Stravaganza" - Concerto No 4

A small taste of the most stimulating baroque string music

Although he temporarily abandoned his functions when he felt like it (or was asked to), Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) remained as Concert Director of the Ospedale della Pietá for almost forty years. In that position, he produced much of his work, especially that devoted to concertos for solo instruments and orchestra, because at the Ospedale he had hundreds of girls in abandonment dedicated to the study of music. Among them he could choose the most brilliant ones to go on concert tours throughout Europe when the opportunity arose.

The most notable works in the genre are contained in the famous collections L'estro armonico and Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (whose first four concertos are popularly known as The Four Seasons). The collection "La Stravaganza" ranks on a slightly lesser level.

La Stravaganza
It is a collection of twelve concertos for violin, strings, and basso continuo, although some of them incorporate a second violin or a cello. They were written between the years 1712-13, that is, they are almost ten years before The Four Seasons, of 1723. But they anticipate a "familiar air"... Hence some scholars argue that the 400 concertos for orchestra and solo instrument that the maestro wrote are very similar. It is a gigantic production, of course. And that the master wrote fast, no doubt, but from there to claiming that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto four hundred times, there is a long way to go. The set of twelve concertos La Stravaganza is today, a gift of an hour and a half of the most stimulating baroque string music.

The Stravaganza Op. 4 Concerto No. 4, in A minor
The twelve concertos were published in 1716 in Amsterdam, and are dedicated to Victor Delfin, a Venetian nobleman who had been Vivaldi's pupil. The dedication exudes great respect and consideration, as it should, but the master does not skimp on his own titles:

"Concerti consacrati a Sua Eccellenza il Signor Vettor Delfino, nobile veneto, da Don Antonio Vivaldi, Musico di Violino, e Maestro de Concerti del Pio Ospitale della Pietá di Venetia."

We are presenting here Concerto No. 4, in a rendition by the Orquestra Barroca conducted by maestro Luís Otávio Santos, on the violin.

Movements:
0:00  Allegro
3:17  Grave e sempre piano
6:05  Allegro

Franz Liszt: "Funerailles", for piano

Martha Argerich, 1977 recording

In 1849, the slender and handsome Franz Liszt was 38 years old. A year earlier he had abandoned his career as a concert pianist at the suggestion of his life companion, Princess Carolyne, who urged him to compose, after their union. Gone were the years when he toured Europe reaping applause, the affection of his audience, and something more. The ladies attending his "recitals" (a soloist presentation, invented by himself in 1840) fainted, the most demure ones. The others pulled each other's hair out to get hold of the handkerchief that the maestro had carelessly forgotten on the piano cover.
But none of that occupied now the master's days.

The maestro was in Weimar, teaching, conducting court concerts, and composing, besides his princess. He led a peaceful life, but in Europe, the winds of revolution were blowing, which would eventually be crushed, of course. One of these uprisings affected him personally. Two of his friends were killed and another went into exile for ten years, after the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, one of the many European revolutions of that year and the next.

Funerailles, one of the fourteen pieces that make up the Poetic and Religious Harmonies collection, was written in homage to these unfortunate friends. It is the most famous of the series.

Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886), in 1847

A tribute to Chopin?
The work has a subtitle: "October 1849".
For some time, some commentators saw in it a tribute by Liszt to his friend Chopin, who died on the 17th of that month and year.
But Liszt himself denied this assertion. He assured that he did not think of Chopin at all, although, for any moderately educated listener, the work contains a couple of pieces that recall the central part of the Polonaise Heroique, including the frenetic octaves of the left hand... How could it not be?

Funerailles, for piano - Poetic Harmonies No 7
The piece lasts about ten minutes. It is made up of four sections, with three main themes that are repeated throughout the work.

00:00  Introduction
02:02  After a pause, a funeral march, which modulates into an unexpected section marked "lagrimoso" at 04:04.
06:14  Heroic war march that grows in intensity (with a diabolical left hand in octaves), until reaching the conclusion.
07:30  Conclusion. The three themes are reintroduced, with greater emphasis. But now the war march will be abruptly interrupted by some piano chords, in very marked staccato, with which the piece ends.

The rendition is by the remarkable Argentine pianist Martha Argerich, in a 1977 recording.