Béla Bartók

Four Pieces for Piano

The 'Four Piano Pieces' (1. Study for the Left Hand, 2. Fantasy I, 3. Fantasy II, 4. Scherzo) was composed between January and October 1903. 'The 'Study for the Left Hand' is a large-scale sonata movement. The eclecticism of 'Fantasy I' composed on 8 February is well illustrated by the fact that his contemporary audience associated it with several composers' styles. The [piece] is dedicated 'to Madame Emma Gruber'. The 'Fantasy II' was written after the symphonic poem Kossuth was finished, in October 1903 in Berlin. It is a piece of Hungarian mood, which Bartók dedicated to his childhood friends 'Misses Emsy and Irmy Jurkovics'. The extraordinary 'Scherzo' that concludes the series is dedicated to Dohnányi. The repeated appearance of grotesque turns of phrase conjures up Liszt's 'scherzo diabolique' type.

(HCD 32524 Bartók New Series Vol. 24, István G. Németh)