Béla Bartók

Like the previous piece, Divided Arpeggios -- and many others in Mikrokosmos -- this work bears a title that will serve to alienate certain listeners, especially in their knowledge that the 153 compositions comprising the set are instructive and of increasing difficulty. But while Minor Seconds, Major Sevenths teaches the piano student (and even the professional), it offers music that can stand alone as pure art, too. At about four minutes in length, it is the longest single composition in the collection and, without doubt, among the most profound.

The work is powerfully atmospheric throughout, the composer conveying a sense of wandering and mystery, a mood of otherworldly doings. The tempo is slow, the music in the opening at times sounding like a Largo-paced version of the beginning of From the Diary of a Fly (No. 142). Tension accumulates very gradually and is vented in fleeting resolutions that come in crescendo outbursts, then fade quickly. In the end, this is a difficult work for the listener upon first or second hearing, and while it is slow-paced, it is very challenging for the performer.