Béla Bartók

Rhapsody

The significance of the Rhapsody composed in 1904 in Gerlicepuszta and Pozsony is well shown by the fact that Bartók subsequently reserved the designation 'Opus 1' of his last, mature opus numbering for this piece. By choosing this genre Bartók was clearly following in Liszt's footsteps. But he did not merely follow the Hungarian Rhapsodies with their parading of folkloristic art songs in a virtuoso instrumental fantasy. The formal coherence of Bartók's work allows us to infer the influence of the large-scale Liszt compositions he then knew, such as the B minor Sonata. Unlike Liszt, Bartók builds his Rhapsody not on familiar melodies but on themes of his own invention, yet his style is still that of nineteenth-century folkiness, and draws on the art-music tradition based on the verbunkos and the csárdás.

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