Bartok: Divertimento · Janacek: Idyll

The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra under the expert guidance of Iona Brown brings together three works from two very contrasting composers.

The three previous discs from the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Iona Brown have been extremely well received by the musical press.

Iona Brown became Artistic Director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra in 1981. It has since become established as one of the foremost chamber orchestras in Europe, appearing regularly at prestigious venues in Europe and the USA. The orchestra is highly respected for its wide variety of repertoire.

Both Bartók and Janácek were steeped in the folk music of their different homelands and from their studies each had absorbed what he wanted into his mature style.

Bartók’s Divertimento for Strings, Sz113 (1939), was written at the height of the composer’s maturity, when he began to simplify a style which was increasingly preoccupied with modernist experiment. It was commissioned of the Basle Chamber Orchestra by Paul Sacher who wanted ‘something simpler’ than the previous piece he had commissioned from Bartók – Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sz106 (1936). MThe resulting three-movement piece conforms to traditional structures, respectively, of sonata form, ternary form and rondo form. There is residue of folk music everywhere, but far more integral is the melodic and harmonic language – Bartók’s sophisticated extension of conventional modality.

Taken together Janácek’s pieces provide some insight into the music the young Janácek had come across. Both works are a homage to Dvorák, the composer he most venerated. Most movements are cast in the formal structures of Baroque dances, as the titles of the movements attest, but they betray the young Janácek’s ignorance of Baroque music. For example, the Sarabande is in quadruple time, and the Allemande is not particularly dance-like. There is little that hints at the mature Janácek, although in 1926 he looked through the Suite and had it published, but the Idyll was thought lost and not published until after his death.

The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra under the expert guidance of Iona Brown brings together three works from two very contrasting composers.

The three previous discs from the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Iona Brown have been extremely well received by the musical press.

Iona Brown became Artistic Director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra in 1981. It has since become established as one of the foremost chamber orchestras in Europe, appearing regularly at prestigious venues in Europe and the USA. The orchestra is highly respected for its wide variety of repertoire.

Both Bartók and Janácek were steeped in the folk music of their different homelands and from their studies each had absorbed what he wanted into his mature style.

Bartók’s Divertimento for Strings, Sz113 (1939), was written at the height of the composer’s maturity, when he began to simplify a style which was increasingly preoccupied with modernist experiment. It was commissioned of the Basle Chamber Orchestra by Paul Sacher who wanted ‘something simpler’ than the previous piece he had commissioned from Bartók – Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sz106 (1936). MThe resulting three-movement piece conforms to traditional structures, respectively, of sonata form, ternary form and rondo form. There is residue of folk music everywhere, but far more integral is the melodic and harmonic language – Bartók’s sophisticated extension of conventional modality.

Taken together Janácek’s pieces provide some insight into the music the young Janácek had come across. Both works are a homage to Dvorák, the composer he most venerated. Most movements are cast in the formal structures of Baroque dances, as the titles of the movements attest, but they betray the young Janácek’s ignorance of Baroque music. For example, the Sarabande is in quadruple time, and the Allemande is not particularly dance-like. There is little that hints at the mature Janácek, although in 1926 he looked through the Suite and had it published, but the Idyll was thought lost and not published until after his death.

The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra under the expert guidance of Iona Brown brings together three works from two very contrasting composers.

The three previous discs from the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Iona Brown have been extremely well received by the musical press.

Iona Brown became Artistic Director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra in 1981. It has since become established as one of the foremost chamber orchestras in Europe, appearing regularly at prestigious venues in Europe and the USA. The orchestra is highly respected for its wide variety of repertoire.

Both Bartók and Janácek were steeped in the folk music of their different homelands and from their studies each had absorbed what he wanted into his mature style.

Bartók’s Divertimento for Strings, Sz113 (1939), was written at the height of the composer’s maturity, when he began to simplify a style which was increasingly preoccupied with modernist experiment. It was commissioned of the Basle Chamber Orchestra by Paul Sacher who wanted ‘something simpler’ than the previous piece he had commissioned from Bartók – Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sz106 (1936). MThe resulting three-movement piece conforms to traditional structures, respectively, of sonata form, ternary form and rondo form. There is residue of folk music everywhere, but far more integral is the melodic and harmonic language – Bartók’s sophisticated extension of conventional modality.

Taken together Janácek’s pieces provide some insight into the music the young Janácek had come across. Both works are a homage to Dvorák, the composer he most venerated. Most movements are cast in the formal structures of Baroque dances, as the titles of the movements attest, but they betray the young Janácek’s ignorance of Baroque music. For example, the Sarabande is in quadruple time, and the Allemande is not particularly dance-like. There is little that hints at the mature Janácek, although in 1926 he looked through the Suite and had it published, but the Idyll was thought lost and not published until after his death.

The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra under the expert guidance of Iona Brown brings together three works from two very contrasting composers.

The three previous discs from the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Iona Brown have been extremely well received by the musical press.

Iona Brown became Artistic Director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra in 1981. It has since become established as one of the foremost chamber orchestras in Europe, appearing regularly at prestigious venues in Europe and the USA. The orchestra is highly respected for its wide variety of repertoire.

Both Bartók and Janácek were steeped in the folk music of their different homelands and from their studies each had absorbed what he wanted into his mature style.

Bartók’s Divertimento for Strings, Sz113 (1939), was written at the height of the composer’s maturity, when he began to simplify a style which was increasingly preoccupied with modernist experiment. It was commissioned of the Basle Chamber Orchestra by Paul Sacher who wanted ‘something simpler’ than the previous piece he had commissioned from Bartók – Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sz106 (1936). MThe resulting three-movement piece conforms to traditional structures, respectively, of sonata form, ternary form and rondo form. There is residue of folk music everywhere, but far more integral is the melodic and harmonic language – Bartók’s sophisticated extension of conventional modality.

Taken together Janácek’s pieces provide some insight into the music the young Janácek had come across. Both works are a homage to Dvorák, the composer he most venerated. Most movements are cast in the formal structures of Baroque dances, as the titles of the movements attest, but they betray the young Janácek’s ignorance of Baroque music. For example, the Sarabande is in quadruple time, and the Allemande is not particularly dance-like. There is little that hints at the mature Janácek, although in 1926 he looked through the Suite and had it published, but the Idyll was thought lost and not published until after his death.

‘This new performance, at once elegant and beautifully phrased, is also very committed: the playing has great feeling and passion… Rhythm’s are taut and springy, and one senses every player giving his or her all.’

Hi-Fi News on CHAN 9708 (Strauss/Tchaikovsky)

‘The performance by Iona Brown and her fine Norwegian Chamber Orchestra musicians… is rendered with skill and in fine style… Brown elicits playing of supreme warmth…’

Fanfare on CHAN 9708 (Strauss/Tchaikovsky)

*****

R Poyser

F Cayley

Bartok: Divertimento · Janacek: Idyll

Iona Brown

Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

Eidsvoll Church, Norway

Andrew Keener

Tony Faulkner

Orchestral & Concertos

BELA BARTOK

Divertimento for Strings, Sz 113

LEOS JANACEK

Idyll for String Orchestra

Suite for String Orchestra