Béla Bartók (1881-1945): Out of Doors (Sz. 49) Gyõrgy Sándor (1912-2005), piano 1. With Drums and Pipes 2. Barcarolla 3. Musettes 4. The Night's Music 5. The Chase Recorded Hamburg, Germany, January 1995
The fourth of the set, "The Night's Music", is one of my favourite Bartok-pieces. Enchanting sounds of nature, a Chorale-like melody that reminds me of the slow movement of one of his Piano Concertos (I forgot which one), and a charming folk tune, all combined...authoritative playing of your former teacher, James!
I turned to this old standby after listening to a more recent recording that was exquisite in the difficult to pull of first piece but which took the barcarolle too fast for my taste. So, Sandor is in the sweet spot on this one. Other pianists who have played this work very well imo are George Solchany and Robert Henry of the Hamburg Conservatory, for whom it was a flagship vehicle. Both Sandor and Solchany recorded on Angel in th 50s. They taught me what Bartok's piano music was all about.
I don't know why but the first piece with it's energy and bang always makes me think of Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium „Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage“
The right man for the job - splendidly rhythmic and/or atmospheric as required! Sandor must have recorded 'Out of Doors' at least twice (?), because there is also the Vox recording of 1963.
Yes, I think Sándor was the right man for the job - he was described by the composer to an agent in Italy as "mio studente favorito"! And yes, this is at least the second recording of "Out of Doors" by Sándor.
paulprocopolis I bought my first recording of Sandor, also Solchany as a teenager at Thos Tenney's in Berkeley in 1957. They were Angel recordings, around 1955. I still have them.
Sandor ws a very interesting guy. He once apologized to me and a few other students that came to a lecture he gave on Bartok for playing a piece taking 3 seconds to much time.
