Bartók Plays Bartók

Bartók Plays Bartók
Béla Bartók, piano
recorded in Europe 1941(?)
Remington R-199-94, 1952
Printed in U.S.A.

Béla Bartók – Sonata for Two 
Pianos and Percusion
Béla Bartók at the Piano
recorded in 1940
Polydor, PLP 6010
Printed in the U.S.A.

Classical music is a bit underrepresented in these pages considering the vast amount of such records available at the numerous thrift stores in town. There are several genres, or topics that I collect within the broad field that is classical music. One of the topics that I always grab whenever I see one is that of the composer playing his (her's is a bit rare outside of contemporary classical music—a genre not often found at thrift stores) own music. I was delighted to find not one, but two records with the music of one of my all time favorite composers: Béla Bartók. Bartók here plays his own piano music. I found the record downtown Fort Myers in Franklin Shops on 1st Street, more a touristy, beachy kind of curiosity shop than a thrift store, a boutique really. Still the records were only a dollar a piece if you buy twenty of them. I had no problem doing so. The two Bartók records, together with a third one, were neatly bound into an album by the previous owner. I love those personal touches added by music enthusiasts of yore. Bartók Plays Bartók is an album of short solo piano pieces, one is a piano adaption of a work written for strings, another is a piece for two pianos. The second piano is played by his wife Ditta Pasztóry Bartók. Ditta Bartók has even a more prominent presence on the second album, which is a performance of the piece Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. Béla Bartók is heard on piano, Ditta plays the second piano while Harry Baker and Edward Rubzan are the percussionists. The album is then completed with  some short piano solos performed by Béla Bartók.

I've selected three pieces to listen to here. The first two are from the Sonata album, you hear the third movement of the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, followed by a very short melody that is part of the collection For Children. The third soundfile is called Preludio All'Ungherese and is from the Bartók Plays Bartók record.