Kim Kashkasian - Bartók / Eötvös / Kurtág (1999)

This disc was nominated for the 2000 Gramophone magazine award for "Best Concerto Recording." If the Viola Concerto is a neglected issue among Bartók's compositions, it is because of its stepchild status. Commissioned by William Primrose, the concerto was left unfinished when Bartók died in 1945, and while a substantial three-movement structure existed, the work remaining to be done was far more than merely cosmetic. Hungarian composer Tibor Serly undertook the task of completing it and Primrose finally gave the premiere in 1949. Violist Kim Kashkashian is a most persuasive advocate for this piece, as she and conductor Peter Eötvös seem finely attuned to the peculiar twilight world of interrupted dances and wistful songs that run through it. Eötvös' own composition, Replica, dwells in a more sinister atmosphere, with striking bass sonorities underpinning high string clusters and swooping glissandi to disconcerting effect while the viola soloist reacts in agitated fashion, an expressionistic protagonist in a post-Bergian horror movie. Then György Kurtág's graduate essay, Movement for Viola and Orchestra, takes us full circle, back to the world of Bartók which it so reverently echoes.

Kim Kashkashian viola
Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra
Peter Eötvös conductor

Béla Bartók: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
Peter Eötvös: Replica for Viola and Orchestra
György Kurtág: Movement for Viola and Orchestra

Recorded January and July 1999
ECM New Series 1711

Track List

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945)
Concerto for Viola & Orchestra (completed in 1949 by Tibor Serly), Sz. 120, BB 128 (23:28)
1. Moderato
2. Adagio religioso - Allegretto
3. Allegro vivace

Peter Eötvös (1944 - )
Replica (14:31)
for Viola and Orchestra

György Kurtág (1926 - )
Movement for Viola and Orchestra (11:53)


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