[78-L] Bartok Sampler

[David Lewis]

From: David Lennick 
http://www.amazon.com/Bart%C3%B3k-at-Piano-1-Benny-Goodman/dp/B00000305B This looks the equivalent of Volume I of the LP set which contained all the commercial recordings (except for the missing 12th side of "Mikrokosmos" which I believe was finally put out by Pearl). If it's from the same tapes, some of the transfers were really lousy, like "Contrasts" (sounded as if it was taken from the Odyssey fake stereo LP and filtered out of existence). dl  
 
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Hmm -- this is an odd listing, as this would just be the first set out of a Hungaroton box that contained two. See end of note for contents; this would be the complete commercial recordings, although I'm not sure what Mr. Lennick means by "the missing twelfth side of Mikrokosmos."  
 
Malcolm Smith wrote:> I have two sets of LPs of Ditta Pastory and a ten inch lp of Bartok> accompanying two singers in addition to the Library of Congress set> of LPs with Szigeti and a few other items. A friend who worked on> ships and used to bring home very obscure material had a lot of> Bartok records. It would be wonderful if someone could put out a full> collection of all this material. In addition to being a composer, he> gave a considerable number of piano recitals. There must be> recordings in the archives at Columbia University and perhaps> recordings of radio broadcasts..>>  
 
There is a companion set, Bartok Recordings from Private Collections, that contains the early Bartok cylinders and the radio broadcasts, including the Babits-Makai material:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=43:26617 
The two Hugaroton boxes together constitute a "full collection of all this material" except for things, as Lennick suggested, that might have been left out by accident or have come to light since 1981 when the original sets were prepared. Despite the quality of some transfers, I think Kocsis and Somfai did an admirable job of being as comprehensive as possible at a time where there was no premium on doing so as there is now. The heavily reverbed "Contrasts" was probably all that they could get from Columbia, as this same source -- likely the master made for the Odyssey LP -- has been used for every reissue of "Contrasts" on Sony CDs. Of course, they would have the 16" masters of this performance and of the Mikrokosmos recordings made around the same time, and the fact that these have never been revisited is criminal.
 
Moreover, they did some things very right, including purchasing from Don Gabor what constituted the "original masters" of the Contintentals, likely tape transfers of long discarded disc masters. Had they waited much longer, Kocsis and Somfai would have gotten nothing on these sides, and the 78 pressings of same are not particularly good.  
 
Uncle Dave Lewis
 
Contents Info. [Vol.] 1. Ten easy pieces, Sz. 39. No. 5, 10 [3 and 2 recordings, respectively] ; Fifteen Hungarian peasant songs, Sz. 71. No. 6; 7-10, 12, 14, 15 [2 recordings] ; Sonatina, Sz. 55 ; Rumanian folk dances, Sz. 56 ; Two Rumanian dances op. 8/a, Sz. 43. No. 1 ; Fourteen bagatelles op. 6, Sz. 38. No. 2 [2 recordings] ; Three burlesques op. 8/c, Sz. 47. No. 2 ; Allegro barbaro, Sz. 49 ; Suite op. 14, Sz. 62 / Bartók -- Sonata in G major (K. 427) ; Sonata in A major (K. 212) ; Sonata in A major (K. 537) ; Sonata in B flat major (K. 70) / Domenico Scarlatti -- Années de pèlerinage, vol. III. No. 7, Sursum corda / Liszt -- Three rondos on folk melodies, Sz. 84. No. 1 [2 recordings] ; Nine little piano pieces, Sz. 82. No. 6, 8 ; Petite suite, Sz. 105. V. / Bartók -- Hungarian folk music [selections] / Kodály -- Five Hungarian folk tunes (1928) ; Eight Hungarian folksongs, Sz. 64. No. 1, 3, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 ; Hungarian folk tunes (1926) ; Rumanian folk dances (1925) ; Rhapsody no. 1 for violin and piano, Sz. 86 [2 recordings] ; Contrasts, Sz. 111 / Bartók. [Vol.] 2. Mikrokosmos, Sz. 107 [selections] / Bartók -- Sonata no. 9 in A major for violin and piano, op. 47 : Kreutzer / Beethoven -- Sonata for violin and piano / Debussy -- Sonata no. 2 for violin and piano, Sz. 76 ; Sonata for two pianos and percussion, Sz. 110 ; Petite suite, Sz. 105 ; Improvisations on Hungarian peasant songs op. 20, Sz. 74. No. 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 ; Nine little piano pieces, Sz. 82. No. 9 ; Three Hungarian folk-tunes, Sz. 66 ; Seven pieces from Mikrokosmos, Sz. 108 for two pianos. No. 2, 5, 6 ; For children, Sz. 42. [selections] / Bartók. Note Hungaroton: HCD 12326-31 (Numbers on discs: HCD 12326--HCD 12331) 

Uncle Dave Lewis
uncledavelewis at hotmail.com
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