1 Introduzione (Introduction)
2 Giuoco delle coppie (Game of Pairs)
3 Elegia (Elegy)
4 Intermezzo interrotto (Interrupted Intermezzo)
5 Finale
A colourful showpiece, and probably the most popular of Bart贸k鈥檚 orchestral works, the Concerto for Orchestra was composed in the USA, where Bart贸k and his wife, the pianist Ditta P谩sztory, had moved in 1940 to escape fascism and war in their native Hungary. At this time, Bart贸k鈥檚 career, health and finances were in decline. His 60th birthday in 1941 had passed by unhonoured in his adopted home country.
While in hospital with suspected tuberculosis in May 1943, Bart贸k was visited by the conductor and patron Serge Koussevitzky, who offered him $1,000 for a new orchestral piece. Bart贸k wrote most of the work over two months while staying at a 鈥榗ure cottage鈥� near Lake Saranac in upstate New York, shielded from the hubbub of New York City.
Bart贸k may have deliberately set out to avoid writing a 鈥榮ymphony鈥�, regarding that as an outdated form and, while the concerto model had existed for more than two centuries, the idea of a concerto for orchestra was quite new. His aim was 鈥榯o treat the single instruments or instrumental groups in a concertant or soloistic manner鈥�. It is this that gives rise to a rich variety of orchestral textures. Bart贸k noted: 鈥楾he general mood of the work represents, apart from the jesting second movement, a gradual transition from the sternness of the first movement and the lugubrious death-song of the third, to the life-assertion of the last one.鈥�
After the 鈥業ntroduction鈥� comes the jesting 鈥楪ame of Pairs鈥� in which, in the manner of Noah鈥檚 Ark, instruments enter two by two, playing at fixed intervals apart: bassoons in sixths, oboes in thirds, clarinets in sevenths, and so on. The central 鈥榙eath-song鈥� features elements of Bart贸k鈥檚 鈥榥ight-music鈥� style: nocturnal, magical, occasionally disturbing. (It鈥檚 hard to believe Bernard Herrmann didn鈥檛 borrow elements of this for his Hitchcock film scores.) The uncharacteristically nostalgic, lyrical tune on violas in the fourth movement quotes a popular nationalistic song, 鈥榊ou are lovely, you are beautiful, Hungary鈥�. A whooping call on horns opens the finale, a fizzing series of dances that show off the orchestra鈥檚 flair and virtuosity as individuals and as a collective.
Programme note 漏 Edward Bhesania