Béla Bartók Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, III

Music for Strings, Percussion Celesta, Sz. 106, BB 114 (1936) I. Andante tranquillo II. Allegro III. Adagio IV. Allegro molto Chicago Symphony Orchestra James Levine Bartók wrote some of his finest music for the Swiss conductor Paul Sacher, in whom he found a particularly sympathetic champion. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, written for Sacher in 1936, explores with great refinement and mastery the musical concepts that Bartók had been developing since the mid 20s. In the Piano Concerto No. 1, Bartók explored the percussive elements of the piano, coupling it effectively with percussion only in the introduction to the concerto s slow movement. In Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Bartók ingeniously sets the piano with the percussion instruments, where its melodic and harmonic material functions in support of the two string choirs. Since the early 30s, Bartók had also incorporated elements of Baroque music into his compositions, inspired partly by his exploration of preClassical ke