Béla Bartók

Bartók's Second Piano Concerto (1930-1931) is one of the composer's more accessible compositions for performers and audiences alike, yet tough-rhythmed and toccata-like. His previous effort in the genre, the Piano Concerto No. 1 (1926), is somewhat thornier in its idiom and technical demands, and had not to that point enjoyed much popularity. Since Bartók wrote most of his piano music for his own use as a performer throughout Europe and the United States, it seems natural that he would have wanted a work with more universal appeal. Though Bartók completed the Second Concerto in October 1931, it was not premiered until January 23, 1933 -- an especially notable event, since this marked the last time he ever appeared in soon-to-be Nazified Germany.

In approaching the composition of his Second Concerto, Bartók made a conscious effort to limit the difficulty of the solo and the orchestral parts. The latter aspect had proven particularly troublesome in the First Concerto -- so much so, in fact, that the New York Philharmonic, which was to have given the premiere, could not master it in time, and another work had to be substituted on the program. The composer himself acknowledged that the piano part was arduous and later said that the concerto "is a bit difficult -- one might even say very difficult! -- as much for orchestra as for audience." He evidently learned the lesson well, since the Second Concerto has enjoyed both critical acclaim and worldwide popularity.

The overall form of the Second Concerto is symmetrical -- the tempo structure is fast-slow-fast-slow-fast -- in the Bartókian manner that has come to be identified as arch form. The first movement, marked Allegro, is highlighted by the active, punctuating piano solo. The piano's quick, rhythmic pace and fragmentary scalar movement suggest the influence of Stravinsky, and the ballet Petrushka (1910-1911) in particular. The concerto's instrumentation similarly betrays Bartók's affinity with Stravinsky, as the string section remains silent for the entire first movement -- a characteristic which also reflects an increasing emphasis on the wind and percussion sections of the orchestra in the early decades of the twentieth century. Sections of neo-Bachian counterpoint may also reflect Stravinsky's influence.

The strings make their entrance at the beginning of the Adagio second movement. Markedly different from its predecessor, this central movement begins with a slow chorale stated by the strings in stacked perfect fifths. After this first chorale section, the piano enters, accompanied only by timpani -- a striking, unusual instrumental pairing that readily illustrates Bartók's frequent employment of the piano as an extension of the percussion family. The middle section of this movement, signalled by a change to a Presto tempo, is extremely quick and light. The movement is rounded out by a return to the original slow tempo and the reappearance of motives from the beginning of the movement. The third movement is a free variation of the first and is similar in pace and melodic shape.