Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos & Percussion / Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn for 2 Pianos, Op. 56b

Bela Bartok (Composer), Johannes Brahms (Composer), Georg Solti (Performer), Murray Perahia (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Georg Solti, Murray Perahia
• Composer: Bela Bartok, Johannes Brahms
• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000026HH
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,160 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #69 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Percussion

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rhythmic and harmonic wonder, October 2, 2003

By 

Archel (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos & Percussion / Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn for 2 Pianos, Op. 56b (Audio CD)

The Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion is (along with the more popular Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta) the pinnacle of Bartok's fascination with exploring the percussive timbres of the piano and the expressive capacity of percussion. The pianos of Sir Georg Solti and Murray Perahia and the percussion section (3 kettledrums, xylophone, 2 side drums (one without snares), cymbals, suspended cymbals, bass drum, triangle and tam-tam) of David Corkhill and Evelyn Glennie are pretty much equals.

The result is a propulsive, thorny, cerebral, rhythmically and harmonically intricate masterpiece, which exudes a distinct mood of mystery. Listening to it, I can't help but feel it must have been a major influence on the great Cecil Taylor and his school of violently percussive and dense avant-garde/free piano improvising. Although relatively obscure, this is as stunning as anything I've heard from Bartok's range of unique masterpieces (I think I've heard them all except for the String Quartets).

The performances are stellar all around. The quality of the sound engineering and recording should impress even the fussiest audiophiles.

The Brahms piece is very beautiful, but listening to it straight after Bartok's Sonata is a bit of an anti-climax, as it is much more timid and conventional.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Gem is the Brahms, November 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos & Percussion / Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn for 2 Pianos, Op. 56b (Audio CD)

I bought this CD for the Bartok, which is excellent as expected. But I was surprised to discover my love for the Haydn variations by Brahms and performed with lovely vigour on this CD.

A worthwhile purchase!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This performance stands up well, but there's a new remastering, September 26, 2005

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos & Percussion / Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn for 2 Pianos, Op. 56b (Audio CD)

In their recent Great Performances reissue series, Sony has sensibly combined this reading of the Bartok Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with the rest of Perahia's Bartok recordings, which were previously in a three-CD box of miscellaneous composers. The pairing we have here, the two-paino arrangement of Brahms's Haydn Variations, isn't that strongly performed by Solti and Perahia. Tempos are sluggish, and the second piano--who I assume is Solti--sounds clumsy. I think the work is too difficult to bring off even by great musicians who aren't regular partners.

The outstanding feature of the Bartok performance is the percussion. The deaf virtuoso Evelyn Glennie went on to become an international star. Both percussoinists are well recorded, and they play with exactness and impact. The wide stereo separation puts each piano in its own channel--I don't know which is Solti and which Perahia, however--with the percussion spread out over a wide stage behind them. That's a good way to do it, giving us a recreation of Bartok's precise seating instructions.

Having heard the Bartok sonata live as well as on records, I find that the percussive quality of the painos becomes jarring when there's no hall ambience to absorb it. You feel assualted at home, and the clash of cymbals and tam tam isn't so much thrilling (as it is in concert) as noisily irritating. Microphones have a long way to go to equal the human ear. Having said that, this Sony release is the best recorded of the five versions I've either owned or heard, so I can accept the somewhat underplayed piano parts.