Friday, August 28, 2009

Bartok and Gypsy music by Sebestyen, Muzsikas and Takacs Quartet



BARTOK: From The Fields To The Concert Hall
A live concert interspersing his compositions 
with the inspirational sources, 
including Bartok's own recordings 
of Roma Musicians 



Having always felt intimate with Bartok's as well as gypsy music of the roma, I've thoroughly enjoyed playing this recording, loud. It helps to have recently read "Bury Me Standing"- comes from the saying, 'Bury me standing, I've been on my knees all my life'.

"We have music, and if somebody doesn’t have music, then they’re nothing."
-Šelja Bajrami, Plemetina

"The acclaimed Takacs String Quartet joins the Hungarian folk ensemble Muzsikas (with singer Marta Sebestyen, whose inimitable voice you may recall haunting the soundtrack to "The English Patient") to celebrate Hungarian composer Bela Bartok...

When the members of the Takacs Quartet and Muzsikas combine for a concert, they delight in making clear the connections between Bartok's own music and his folk-music obsessions. For example, they alternate movements from some of Bartok's best-known pieces (Romanian Folk Dances, String Quartet No. 4) with the real village dances he collected in the field — both the actual old scratchy records and their own live versions thereof..."

The rest of the source material is on
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103733863


May 6 2009
Jordan Hall, in Boston

Takacs String Quartet
Muzsikas with Marta Sebestyen
Bela Bartok's field recordings


CONCERT PROGRAM
Bartok: Violin Duos (with source tunes)

Track 01
- Torontal Dances (Muzsikas)
- "Ardeleana" (historic Bartok field recording)
- Duo No. 44

Track 02
- "Shoe of My Horse" (Marta Sebestyen)
- Duo No. 28
- Duo No. 32
- "Jocul Barbatesc" (Marta Sebestyen)

Track 03
Bartok: Sonatina (with traditional tunes)

- Bagpipes (Takacs Qt.)
- Bear Dance (Takacs Qt.)
- Bear Dance from Gyimes (Muzsikas)

Track 04
Traditional: Ballad of the Murdered Shepherd

Track 05
Bartok: Romanian Folk Dances (with source tunes)

- Bota es Invertita (Muzsikas)
- Stick Dance (Takacs Qt.)
- Waistband Dance (Takacs Qt.)
- "Pe Loc" (Muzsikas)
- Hornpipe Dance (Takacs Qt.)
- Romanian Polka (Takacs Qt.)

from NPR internet radio, rec. @256 kbps


Enjoy, spread far and wide, and please attend these performers' events when they're in town!



18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank You!

Pheadrus said...

Thanks for this and other interesting posts - the third track of the Bartok concert appears to be corrupted; I've tried downloading multiple times.
Thanks!
- jeff

SingIt said...

Thanks a bunch for this! Same problem here with the third track.

Guillermo said...

Do you mean the piano concerto 3? please check the post, I've included a separate file for the IIIrd movement now.

SingIt said...

Hi, Guillermo. Garrick Ohlsson sings OK; it's the bears and bagpipes of the NPR broadcast that won't dance! File plays for 20 secs and then it's like the Takacs suffer a digital heart stroke from hell... Could you please check and perform a file transplant if necessary?

Guillermo said...

Ok! here is the reuploaded concert, still one folder, under 100MB:
http://www.mediafire.com/?gvntydtyonn

SingIt said...

The bears dance to the beat. Thank you doctor!

Pheadrus said...

thanks for the reupload - Jeff

ceb said...

Thank you for this concert. I often use the Duets with my students. Now I will have musical examples when I explain the transcription process.

Anonymous said...

Excellent concert, but I doubt this is "gipsy" music. It's rather Magyar peasant music, isn't it...?

Willy Saar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Guillermo said...

You may be right, Anonymous! I must inquire, though, did the Gypsy musicians not use these folksongs, and did the folksongs not get performance cross-pollination from Gypsy use?
Again, stricly speaking and cribbing notes from Malvinni's 'Romani Studies', "...Bartók’s critique is based on his ethnomusicological field recordings and concludes that the Gypsies do not play proper Gypsy music but borrowed the material from Hungarian peasants..."
So maybe this can be still called Gypsy musicm but not the way you thought?

hmm..

DonR said...

I recently attended a Takacs quartet concert and read about their collaboration with Muzsikas in the program notes. I felt very disappointed that I missed that. Since I am in California it's unlikely that I could have attended in any case. Your splendid offering is just what I hoped to be able to hear. Wonderful, pungent, expert, earthy music making at the very highest level. WOW!

chris_c said...

thanks for this excellent resource

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Thanks for this and other interesting posts.

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