Göteborgs Konserthus VÄGUS: Bartók Concerto for orchestra & Fors Majeure

Handel - from Water Music Mendelssohn - from The Hebrides Strauss II - from An der schönen blauen Donau Smetana - from Moldau Elgar - Enigmavariations nr XI "G.R.S." Britten - Storm from Peter Grimes; Four Sea Interludes Alfvén - Summerrain Whitacre - Cloudburst (lyrics: Octavio Paz) Miranda - How Far I'll Go from Moana (arr: H. Torolphi)

Introduzione: Andante non troppo. Allegro vivace Giuco della coppie: Allegretto scherzando Elegia: Andante, non troppo Intermezzo interrotto: Allegretto Finale: Pesante. Presto When this music was written in 1943, Bela Bartók had two years left to live. He had come to the United States fleeing a Europe at war and clawed his way through a few lean years in New York. The honorary doctorate at Harvard provided no income. In addition, he became increasingly ill, what previously appeared to be tuberculosis turned out to be leukemia. But he continued to compose as always. Work was his life - and pleasure too, if you will. Like a child, he rested by doing other things. He was first and foremost a music ethnologist, that is, a recorder and collector of folk music. And it was among other things this immeasurable library, more than 13,000 melodies, he was so keen to save the Second World War. Countless trips in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Turkey were made with a phonograph as a memory aid. In between, he composed, on top of that a whole lot of teaching as income and change, and of course an extensive activity as a concert pianist in many countries. In addition, he was interested in collecting plants, beetles, learning new languages. Palestrina's music was always on the piano and he never traveled without his thumbed score of Stravinsky's Spring Sacrifice under his arm. Is there a diagnosis for this? we would ask today. The music Bela Bartók wrote was highly influenced by all the music he saw and heard on his collecting trips, but in the later works you can also hear how fascinated he was by the Baroque masters. The concerto for orchestra was commissioned by the Sergei Koussevitsky Music Foundation. Bartók himself has described the music as a journey from austerity via an ominous song to a life-affirming ending. Like Mozart, he composed incredibly quickly, he couldn't get an idea out of his head until the next one appeared. With such a cacophony within, it is no wonder that throughout his life he sought out quiet places. Bartok himself saw the collection of folk music as his greatest and most important deed for more than one reason: "…the brotherhood of peoples, brotherhood despite all wars and conflicts. I try - as best I can - to serve that idea in my music: therefore I reject no influences, whether Slovak, Romanian, Arabic, or from other sources." (Bartók, 1931) KATARINA A KARLSSON